


Lights In The Dark

by idiosyncraticWordsmith (literaryAspirant)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Gen, Intrigue, Jedi Training, Lightsaber Battles, Major Original Character(s), Male Homosexuality, Mystery, Original Character-centric, Original Story - Freeform, Space Battles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2018-09-12 18:06:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 50
Words: 68,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9083440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literaryAspirant/pseuds/idiosyncraticWordsmith
Summary: Ten years after the Rise of the Empire, adolescents Anaxis and Zex want nothing more than to get away from their boring, backwater homeworld. When they are found to be Force sensitive, however, they get more than either of them bargained for, as they are rescued from the clutches of the insidious Inquisitorius by former Jedi Knight Kel Andali and his crew of insurgents. As the crew uncovers a nefarious Imperial conspiracy, Anaxis and Zex learn the ways of the Force from Kel. But it is a dark time in the universe, and nothing is at it seems, nor is anything as easy as it should be. How long can the light burn when the whole galaxy has fallen into the darkness?





	1. Ten Years Ago

“As newly declared Emperor Sheev Palpatine moves forward with the reorganization of the Galactic Republic into his newly conceived Galactic Empire, polls indicate that his approval rating has reached a new high, as the revelation of the Jedi Conspiracy and the attempt on his life stirs great sympathy for the former Supreme Chancellor. In the Senate, reforms are being proposed and passed to transfer power to the executive branch and reorganize the regional governorships established during the Clone Wars as a permanent structure. We are also receiving reports that the Grand Army of the Republic will be restructured into a permanent Imperial institution with open recruitment for all interested in serving their Empire and the ideals of law and order…”

The holonews droned on in the dark room. The man who sat hunched over in that room waved a hand, and the projector was deactivated. His other hand was covering his face.

A hundred thoughts rushed through his mind. The Clone Wars were over. The galaxy should be settling down into a new age of peace. Instead, the Republic was being torn down to build a new, stronger government, to ‘protect the interests of peace, civilization, and order.’

If that were the case, why were the Jedi all dead? And they _were_ all dead. He had felt it - a shift in the Force the likes of which he had only ever read about. If the losses of war over the past four years felt like bleeding, then the death of the Jedi felt like having an organ torn out of him. The great peacekeepers of the Republic were gone now, and the Empire was moving forward to bring a new age of enlightenment without them.

He wanted to believe it was for the best. The Jedi stopped being peacekeepers years ago, when they threw aside that title in favor of ranks like ‘general’ and ‘commander’. He knew from the beginning that the Clone War would end the Jedi Order, and that was why he had left the Order when the war started.

Still, deep in his heart, he knew that it wasn’t a new age of peace and order the Empire would bring. No, it would be an age of darkness, the likes of which the galaxy had not seen in ages. He could feel it coming, like a storm front on the horizon. The Jedi had no place in a time like that - that was why they were all killed. 

Or perhaps they had truly fallen that far. Either way, nothing good was stirring in the foreseeable future. The man stood up, and began collecting his things. The Jedi were dead, but he was still alive, and while he had left the Order long ago, that wouldn’t persuade a galaxy full of people who hated anyone with a lightsaber. He had come to Calus in the Mid Rim to escape the notice of the Jedi; Now, as the New Order began to take shape, he realized he would have to go even further away, and escape the eyes of the Empire. He was already a ghost; now he would have to become a nobody.

He gathered his personal effects. Clothes, credits, holobooks, datapads. He kept little in this tiny apartment. He stashed a blaster away in his outfit where no one would see. The few Jedi artifacts he had retained - a holocron, his lightsabers, and a single crystal from the caves of Ilum - he placed in a small compartment in his luggage. He finished packing, and left the apartment complex. He decided not to finish paying rent.

It was late in the day, and people were returning home from work, or on their way out to late-night jobs. The man in his robes was inconspicuous; it was cold, and plenty of people were wearing outer layers. Still, he wondered if he appeared too much like a Jedi. The glances he caught coming his way told him the answer.

He made his way to the spaceport. He had a reliable transport there that could take him off-world and away from the madness that was swallowing the galaxy up whole. He looked around, and saw holovids projecting the news. People were gathered all around them, listening to every word, soaking in the reports of the Empire’s formation, the betrayal of the Jedi, the great hope which was apparently coursing through the galaxy as a bold new era began.

“As per Imperial decree, it is to be made public knowledge that all Jedi are to be considered traitors to the Empire, and that aiding and abetting them is treasonous and warrants prosecution. Any suspicion of a Jedi presence should be reported to the local authorities at once.”

He kept an even pace despite the eyes he felt baring down on him.

“Do _not_ attempt to engage a Jedi alone,” the news went on. “They are more than likely armed and extremely dangerous.”

He was coming up on a group of people who were staring him down. It was fairly obvious that they were thinking about starting trouble. He tried to keep his eyes off of them. They didn’t return the favor.

“Pretty odd clothes you’ve got on there, stranger,” one of them called out. “And plenty of luggage. Trying to go somewhere?”

He ignored them. As he tried to pass, they grabbed him forcefully.

“Our friend asked you a question,” one asked.

“I didn’t know he was talking to me,” he answered. “I don’t know why it’s any business of yours.”

“I think you know why, _Jedi_ ,” one of them said.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he lied. “I’m not a Jedi.”

“Save it for the courts, Jedi scum!” One said, grabbing him and trying to restrain him. He took in a deep breath, and prepared himself to do something unsavory. He reached out with the Force and stroked their minds gently.

“I am _not_ a Jedi Knight.”

“I don’t think he’s a Jedi Knight,” one of them said.

“You are all just being paranoid.”

“We’re all just being paranoid.”

“Let me go.”

“Let him go.”

He dashed away before they realized what had happened. He couldn’t risk causing trouble. He kept telling himself that as he dealt with the fact that he had broken a promise he made years ago until he reached the spaceport and could distract himself more effectively. He approached the customs station - unlike every other time he had come here, there was a checkpoint set up. The line was short, but it made him anxious all the same. He finally got to the customs officer.

“Good day, sir,” the officer greeted. “I’ll need your name, ship registration, destination, and business for leaving.”

“You’ve never needed all of that before,” he pointed out. “Why the sudden interest in what I do with my own ship?”

“New Imperial regulations,” the officer shrugged. “I’m a fan of it, myself. We can finally crack down on smugglers and criminals.”

He sighed quietly. “You don’t need any of my information.”

“I don’t need any of your information,” the officer said. “Go on, you’re all clear.”

He hadn’t used a mind trick in years, and now he had done it twice in a row. Despite the fact that the Jedi were all dead, it felt like he had never left the Order. He didn’t waste time, though. This was a dark day, and they were only going to get darker. He couldn’t afford to be hung up on ideology.

He ran into a whole new level of trouble when he walked into the concourse of the spaceport. He looked around, and saw dozens of blazen white helmets standing guard, with even more marching on patrol. Calus was far removed from the Clone Wars; there had never been any clone troopers here, even as a garrison. But now with the war over, it seemed the Empire felt that its troops would be best deployed onto its own worlds.

He didn’t know how resistant clones were to mind tricks, but he had a feeling it wouldn’t matter. If they engaged him, no mind trick could affect them. He walked quickly, making his way to his ship as quickly and as subtly as possible. His emotions ran wild, and fear mingled with awareness as he felt like the entire concourse had its eyes on him. He tried to keep his eyes forward, but the temptation to glance around was great. He wondered where these clones had been before. He wondered if they had killed any Jedi. He turned, and saw the bay containing his ship down the walkway. He lugged his property up and moved swiftly, relieved to see escape in sight.

Until a small dinging noise accompanied the opening of the bay next to it. Out from those doors came spilling an entire squad of clone troops, freshly arrived from off-world. They turned to march towards their destination, which happened to be the direction of the Jedi Knight frantically trying not to look frantic. He sucked in a deep breath, and subtly tugged on the Force, twitching a hand slightly to pull an Ithorian into one of the clones. Just a little distraction.

The clones stopped their march and all focused on the Ithorian, who apologized for ‘tripping’.

“Watch your step,” the bumped clone warned, “the Empire doesn’t tolerate pickpockets, especially _aliens_. Take him in for questioning.”

The Jedi stopped at what he heard. He couldn’t help it. He turned and saw the clones restraining the Ithorian, who resisted, questioning why they thought he was a thief, claiming innocence. The clones ignored him, and merely began marching him along. One of the clones looked over and saw the Jedi staring.

“Move along, civilian.” He ordered.

The Jedi thought of the blaster inside his robes, and the lightsabers hidden just within his bag. He looked at the Ithorian he had accidentally imprisoned, and then back at the clone trooper’s expressionless helmet.

Nodding slightly, he merely turned and went on his way.

He rushed into the corridor leading to his bay. His shame fell onto him like a waterfall as he almost ran towards his ship. If only his master could see him now...

“Running away, my young Padawan?” He heard behind him when he was halfway down the hall. He turned around, and saw in front of him a woman, her hair short and graying, her eyes soft but knowing. She was wearing Jedi robes. She was smiling.

“Master…” he whispered. “I… you…”

“It’s alright, Kel,” she said. “I tried to run away, too. The difference between us, ironically, is that you ran before it was too late. And now you’re running again, once more with perfect timing.”

“I don’t understand, master, how are you… what do you mean?” He asked.

“You were right to leave the Order, my apprentice,” she said. “We had lost the way, though we knew it not. And now we our blindness has led us into darkness. Some glimmers of light remain, but…” she trailed off. He had never known his master to give into despair of any kind. To hear her voice doubt in the light was… troubling.

“Why have you come to me?” He asked. “I abandoned you all, and now… I am no help to you now,” was all he could think to saay

“My student, that was the lesson you learned before I ever conceived of it,” she said, smiling again and approaching him. “You are not a Jedi. You are something _else_ now. Something that can be _better_ . That was _your_ lesson to _me_ , Kel Andali. For every light that is snuffed, a new light can be sparked. Go forth and spark that new light to fight this darkness. Honor us.”

“Honor you how?” He asked. “How am I supposed to spark a new light when I’m on the run for my life from the entire galaxy?”

She smiled once more, a sad but hopeful smile. It was familiar to him. “You will find the way, as you always have. And you will not be alone. Now go, my apprentice, and honor us all - may the Force be with you.”

With that, the woman faded from sight. Kel Andali stood there, staring at where she had been. He turned, and opened the door to the hangar bay where his ship awaited. The _Hopeful Beggar_ sat before him, long and narrow, with two sections jutting out in the back to make a ‘T’ shape. Its brown hull was old and rusted, and it was by no means the best shape to fly. But it would deliver him from the Empire and serve as a home for a time, and for that, he was thankful. As he boarded the small freighter and sat on the pilot’s chair, he remembered where he had seen that final smile before.

It was the smile she gave him the day he left the Jedi Order.

He started the ship up, and pulled out from the hangar. Shooting into space, he opened the astrogation charts and began to look for a new world in the Outer Rim to call home. Almost on a whim, he chose one, and blasted off into hyperspace, leaving Calus and the Empire, and the graves of the Jedi Knights, behind him.


	2. Today

“Mom, I’m leaving,” Anaxis shouted. He slung his bag over his shoulders and secured it, mentally double checking everything that should be in it, and if he packed it. Datapads, tools, holobooks… he was almost certain he had everything. His mother walked out from the kitchen of their small house and appraised him. She was short and stout, her dark hair graying with age and stress. The wrinkles lining her face made her look older than she was, and she examined him as if she’d actually notice anything different this time. Her son was tall for his age, and lean, too, on account of how sparingly she fed him. His black hair was greasy and messy - she’d have to order him to clean it up soon. His eyes were green as always, the only thing his father left behind.

“You’re off to school, then?” She asked. “No running around?”

“Yes, mother,” Anaxis mumbled. “Straight off to the academy.”

His mother’s face scrunched in skepticism. “If you’re lying to me, boy… you know your old mother can’t work in her old age...”

“Swear on the Emperor’s name, mom,” Anaxis promised. His mother nodded approvingly.

“Good. Now go off and make a decent citizen of yourself,” she ordered.

Anaxis nodded and walked out the door and onto the busy early morning streets of Capital City, the central administrative center of the planet of Maran. The orange sun was just rising as he melded into the morning rush of the crowd.

Maran was an agricultural world, for the most part. A breadbasket for this sector of the galaxy, with rich soil that could grow just about anything in some region or other, the only opportunities here were farming and trade. That was why it was one of the first worlds brought under Imperial control when Grand Moff Tarkin was given control of the Outer Rim. Now Maran’s food went to feed Imperial stormtroopers and the rest of the military, and in exchange, Maran was kept safe and secure.

At least, that’s what the Empire said. And no matter what his mother told him, Anaxis never really cared for what the Empire said. He wasn’t blind. He saw the Imperials taxing and levying everyone in the city halfway to death. In fact, as he passed by the marketplace, he saw troopers harassing a merchant. He approached to see what was going on.

“Your stall hasn’t been marked as paid yet,” the sergeant stated, his voice demanding from within his helmet. “Where are your taxes?”

“I’ve already paid the sales tax,” the merchant explained.

“But not your license tax,” the trooper responded.

“License tax? I don’t know what you mean!” The merchant answered.

“Imperial law on Maran was updated last week to include a running tax on all licensed merchant kiosks, and you haven’t paid. Now shut down before we do it for you,” the trooper threatened. The merchant wasn’t sure what to do. Anaxis wasn’t sure what to do.

“But… if I close down now, so early in the day, I won’t have enough money to pay rent!” He begged.

“Not our problem,” the sergeant declared, pointing his blaster at the man.

“Hey!” Someone shouted from nearby, “you can’t do this!”

“Men, arrest the girl,” the sergeant ordered.

“No! She’s my daughter, she doesn’t know any better!” The merchant pleaded.

“Arrest him, too, for resisting Imperial authority,” the sergeant commanded. The two of them were restrained and taken away. Scavengers from the street corners and alleys began crawling out to swipe from the vacant merchant stall. Anaxis didn’t try to stop them - they needed to eat as much as anyone else, and otherwise the food would go to waste, or to the Empire. Instead, he just carried on, just like everyone else, just like they always did.

Except something strange happened this time. A tall stack of crates on the side of the street suddenly fell over, collapsing on the stormtrooper patrol. They looked around, searching for anybody who might have been responsible. Anaxis did, too - whoever was brave enough to pull a stunt like that was someone he wanted to help out, if he could. But nobody was near where the crates were, and the troopers were recovering. It seemed like it was just an accident. Anaxis sighed in disappointment - he was hoping for something more… exciting.

The troopers eventually gave up on looking for a culprit and disappeared out of sight on their way towards the Imperial Complex. Anaxis continued on his way, wondering about the different ways he could’ve done something to help those people. No matter what, though, it never played out to anybody’s benefit. That’s why he hated this place. He couldn’t do anything worthwhile here.

“Hey, hey! Naxy!” He heard someone whispering. He looked over, and saw a boy his age in raggy clothes in they alleyway. He wasn’t as tall as Anaxis, but he was thinner, and his pale blond hair stuck out in the shadows. He’d recognize him anywhere, even with the way the sides of his hair were buzzed now.

“Zex?” Anaxis asked, walking into the alley. “Zex, what are you doing here? I thought you got arrested when you tried moving those stolen droid parts,” he recalled. Zex was a… problem child, to say the least.

“Is that what the holonews is saying?” Zex asked, smirking as always. “Nah, they put a warrant out for me but never got me. I laid low at a new friend’s house for a while until things cooled down.”

“And now you’re just going to get back to it?” Anaxis asked with a smile. Zex laughed.

“You know me, Nax. You want in? I’ve got something planned and I could use your help,” he invited. Anaxis’s smile faded.

“I’d love to, but…” he trailed off. Zex’s brows furrowed.

“But what? What’s up?” Zex asked, walking up closer. “You normally spring at the chance to mess around with me.”

“I can’t afford to keep showing up late and missing class, Zex. They’ll kick me out,” Anaxis explained. “And if  _ they _ kick me out…”

“Then mom will, too,” Zex finished. He sighed, his face falling into a frown. “I really hate your mom, Nax. No offense.”

“None taken. I just need a roof over my head and food in my mouth,” Anaxis said. “Until I have either my pilot’s license or degree from the academy, I need mom for that.”

“You know, I’ve got a roof over  _ my _ head, and I eat about every day, and  _ I _ don’t have  _ either _ of those,” Zex reminded tauntingly. Anaxis just rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, squatting and stealing aren’t up my alley,” he retorted. Zex shrugged with a playful smile.

“Never stopped you from rolling with me before,” Zex reminded.

“Stakes haven’t been higher before - the headmaster’s already threatened to expel me. And he’s an Imp, so you know he’ll follow through. I should probably go now, I’m going to be late as it is,” he said.

“If you’re gonna be late as it is, why not come with me?” Zex asked. Anaxis just sighed as he turned to go. “Come on, Nax, I could use someone who can keep up with me.”

“I’ll catch up with you later, Zex, just don’t get arrested,” he said in farewell, leaving the shade of the alley for the harsh orange light of the streets.

Once he was back on the streets, though, he felt a strange sensation, pulling at his attention. It was like a light breeze, except there wasn’t any wind. He turned around, and saw nothing of particular note in the streets. People walking, merchants selling their wares. Except… there was a man, dark brown hair, with a beard, staring at him. The man broke eye contact and walked away quickly. Anaxis stared after him with a confused expression. Did he know that person? Why was he staring at him?

Anaxis shook his head to clear his brain of those questions, refocusing himself on where he was needed right now: school.


	3. A Lesson On Jedi

Anaxis entered the classroom exactly as the bell rang, a blessing he didn’t question. He had moved as quickly as he could to make sure he wasn’t late again, and was in his seat before the bell tone was over. Instructor Plades eyed him with his weathered gaze from his desk, but said nothing. He stood up, and addressed the class.

“Fortuitously, it seems to me that we have all managed to come to class in a punctual manner,” Plades announced. “Which is fortunate, as it would be rather misfortunate for some of you to miss out on the beginning of our newest unit regarding galactic history, considering that it was freshly added to the curriculum of Imperial Civic Academies across the galaxy only recently. Once more, you have your Empire to thank for granting you each the immense blessing of knowledge,” he droned on. 

Anaxis pretended to be taking notes on his datapad. Plades’ lectures usually were so simple and boring he barely paid attention and passed all the exams by way of exposure. But then the instructor said something that caught his attention.

“Today, we begin our short but crucial unit concerning the nature and history of the antiquated Jedi Order,” he declared. “The Imperial Senate previously held that the Jedi had no place in our education system, but since your young, tender minds have never witnessed them in their time, the Senate, with the Emperor’s blessing, has decided to grant you each some modicum of knowledge pertaining to them,” he lectured.

Anaxis leaned forward in his chair, paying attention eagerly. His mother had told him about the Jedi before, but not that much. Just that they were war heroes and some kind of sorcerers. He wanted to know more, even if it was just what the Empire had to say.

“The Jedi Order was an ancient organization, first believed to have its roots in galactic pre-history. Their primary philosophical tenants pertained to the pursuit of understanding of a supernatural, ethereal force primitively identified simply as ‘the Force’. Their claim was that, through this Force, they were capable of remarkable feats, most prominently telekinesis and precognition. Their primary identifying features included primitive robes, cryptic behavior, and their iconic, if antiquated lightsabers. Now, does anybody here know what the primary function of the Jedi Order was prior to its disbandment?” Plades asked. Hands went up. He chose a student Anaxis didn’t know very well.

“They were peacekeepers and senatorial ambassadors, granted special permissions to maintain peaceful galactic interactions,” they answered.

“Yes, that was the claim they had made,” Plades replied dryly. “No doubt many of your parents had heard similar variations and passed them along. This is why your education is so crucial - to correct the misunderstandings the uneducated pass along to their progenies.”

“I heard the Jedi were warriors,” Anaxis piped up. “War heroes. They fought in the Clone Wars. They practically won it for the Republic.”

Plades rose an eyebrow at Anaxis’s contribution. “Yes, they certainly did. Remember to raise your hand in the future, Mr. Fanexos. Being on time this many days in a row is a record for you, but it is not your sole disciplinary issue. This is your only warning,” he threatened. Anaxis nodded in understanding. 

“Outburst notwithstanding,” he went on, “you are correct, albeit perhaps your view is overly-romanticized. The Jedi not only fought in, but  _ initiated _ the Clone Wars with a reckless invasion of a world aligned with the Separatist cause. The Republic was forced to fight a war it did not desire to have, which was the first indication of the disease which wanton corruption in the old Senate had wrought, both across the galaxy as a whole and in the Jedi Order, which had been granted far too much liberty in its operations. Are you all aware that the Jedi were once permitted to kidnap children, barely weaned from their mothers, to initiate into their Order?” Plades asked. The students were silent. He continued.

“Make no mistake, my dear students, the Jedi were  _ not _ peacekeepers,” Plades declared firmly.  “They were not  _ heroes _ . They were cultists and miscreants who conspired against and betrayed the Senate in their pursuit of backwards theocracy. As we continue this unit, you will see the full extent of their corruption and backwards ways, and you, too, will begin to wake up every day, as I do, and thank the Emperor’s wisdom in eradicating and banning their cryptic ways from the galaxy. A universe without the Jedi is a universe that is better off,” he concluded.


	4. The Agility Trial

The rest of Plades’ lecture was mostly minutia and propaganda. At least, it sounded like propaganda to Anaxis. Did the Jedi really try to kill Emperor Palpatine? It made sense when Plades showed them the pictures of Palpatine before the attempt on his life. What else could deform someone like that? What about the Force? Was it real, or was it just ‘Jedi trickery’ like Plades described?

As he walked out of the classroom, he quietly wondered how much of it was true. He knew the Empire lied about some things some times. He wished he could find someone he could rely on to have the answers, but gave up on that pretty quickly. He’d have to ask a Jedi, and Plades said they were all gone.

Or were they?

Of course they were.

Right?

“Hey, Naxy!” He heard someone shout. He turned to his right and saw the closest things he had to friends at the academy.

“Ophi, Remu, what’s up?” He asked. Ophi was dark-skinned and short, and Remu was large and tan.

“You ready for agility trials today?” Ophi asked. “My dad’s been pushing me hardcore to get top ten percentile in the class for it.”

“I’ll be lucky if I finish,” Remu joked.

“Stars know I never do…” she joked back. Her boyfriend flushed and looked away as Anaxis tried desperately to change the topic.

“Yeah, I’m ready for them,” he responded. He had actually forgotten all about them.

“Good, ‘cause I hear the local Commandant’s going to be there doing an inspection,” Ophi relayed. “That’s why dad wanted me ready. He thinks I could make it in the corps if I impress the right people at the right time.”

“Do you  _ want _ to make it in the corps?” Anaxis asked. She looked at him with a confused expression, like he just asked if she were a bantha.

“Uh, of  _ course _ ? My family’s been trying to get into the stormtroopers since they first formed,” she reminded. “They say the best troopers get promoted into special, elite corps, like the Commandos, or the Scouts, or, oh, oh! The  _ Nova _ Corps!”

“Those aren’t real, Ophi,” Remu chimed in as they started making their way to the testing grounds outside. “They’re just a rumor.”

“More like a  _ trumor _ ,” she corrected. “My uncle swears he saw a real Novatrooper platoon unloading at the spaceport he works at.”

“What  _ are _ Novatroopers?” Anaxis asked.

“They’re like Imperial Guards with actual military training,” Ophi explained. “They’re honor guards with a lot more than just honor. Wherever the Empire needs to make sure  _ nobody  _ gets in, they send Novatroopers.”

“Like the Jedi Temple on Coruscant?” Anaxis asked, for no reason in particular.

“Sure,” she responded, not reacting to his choice of location at all. “Or secret bases where all the  _ really _ cool stuff happens,” she added covetously.

“I don’t know,” Anaxis replied, “sounds boring. Standing around on guard all day.”

Ophi stared at him with a slack jaw and wide eyes. “I… will  _ never _ understand you, Anaxis,” was all she said before walking ahead of him out into the training grounds. Remu merely shrugged at Anaxis and followed his girlfriend out. Anaxis rolled his eyes and went outside with the rest of his classmates.

The training grounds were like a small colosseum that was open to the public for viewing. It had all sorts of twists and turns hidden in its plain, flat structure and simple walls. It was used to make sure the students at the Civic Academy were up to the Empire’s requirements for physical fitness; those who were exceptionally capable were offered privileged spots at the Imperial Complex in the Stormtrooper Cadet program. Agility testing, which was today, was usually the first step to getting a spot like that.

Not like Anaxis cared. He just wanted to pass and be done with it.

He walked out to the preparation pen, where all the students gathered prior to a trial. Idly, he looked around at the speculator stands. Usually it was just a few parents come to see their children. Sometimes private companies sent scouts to see who did well on some trials, but usually not agility. Every so often a bored citizen in the area or bum with nothing better to do with wander in. Anaxis didn’t see anything of particular interest in the stands this time around, aside from the Commandant in the VIP pen.

But then he felt the breeze-that-wasn’t-a-breeze again. And instinctively, he turned his head just right to see the same man as that morning sitting in the stands, watching him. He couldn’t tell from this far away, but it almost looked like the man nodded at him a little.

“Students,” the Commandant’s voice echoed out over the speakers, “you will shortly begin the agility test. To pass, you must successfully navigate from one end of the field to the other in the allotted time. Various obstacles and platforms will move in patterned manners around the field during the trial. Use them to help or hinder your goal as you are able and see fit. Cooperation will not be rewarded; efficiency will be. The test begins in ten seconds. Good luck.”

The students took their places. There were no lanes; it was a free-for-all to the other side, no structure but victory and defeat. Anaxis took in a deep breath, and felt things out the way he did. He walked until he found the place where he felt like there’d be the fewest obstacles in his way, and crouched to prepare. He breathed in, relaxed, and breathed out.

“ _ Begin. _ ”

Anaxis took off. The field had come to life. Trap doors were going on and off, hover-platforms had taken off from the ground and walls and were lazily hovering over various hurdles and trip hazards. Anaxis ran, focusing on planting one foot in front of the other. He placed a foot down, and felt a trapdoor beginning to collapse under him. He leapt up, grabbed an overhanging bar on the bottom of a platform, and swung himself over the hurdle ahead. He saw the high-hurdle come swinging at him from the ground before it even started and rolled down to keep his momentum as he dodged under it. There was a tripwire in front of where his rolling left him, and he skipped over it just in time to avoid being grounded. He kept dashing, and when he felt another student coming to ram him, he slowed down enough to let the student barrel right by and into a trap door, before picking the pace back up again. He reached the other side of the field and slowed down, planting a hand on the wall to indicate his success. He looked around to see who else had made it.

He saw two more people hit the wall a second or two after he did. One of them was Ophi, the other he didn’t know. Besides that, nobody else was there. He had finished first.

A few seconds later, the test was over. Most of the class had made it - Remu was the last to make it and still pass. A handful hadn’t made it in the right amount of time. They’d be punished, trained harder, and have to try again. The rest of them would just never deal with it again.

The Commandant began to clap slowly. “A new course record, set by… Student Anaxis Fanexos, I believe it is?” He asked, checking a datapad. Anaxis nodded. “Followed by a new course second-best by Student Ophi Pharalia, and Student Malach Egdoin. The three of you are in an impressive top percentile; I see a potentially promising future for you all in the Trooper Corps. The rest of you have managed to fulfill the expectations of your Empire; continue to do so. You are all dismissed.”

The Commandant’s simple speech was all Anaxis cared to hear. Everybody else chattered excitedly about the fact that they managed to pass, and about the results, as they head back into the school complex. Anaxis, however, paused before doing so. He looked over, and saw the mysterious man in the stands. The man stood up, and most definitely nodded a few times, before turning away and walking off the stands and out of sight.

“Holy  _ hydrospanners _ , Anaxis,” he heard Ophi say. He turned to face her. “How did you pull  _ that _ off??”

Anaxis just shrugged. “I got lucky.”

Ophi gave him a skeptical glare. “That… wasn’t luck. You shaved a whole two seconds off of the course record, which  _ I _ tried to do until I took my goal down to one second to get realistic,” she said.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Ophi,” Anaxis emphasized. “I just ran and moved the way I felt I should’ve.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” Ophi declared.

“Whatever, it’s still true.” Anaxis replied.

Ophi didn’t have anything to say to that, so she just turned and stormed away. He figured she had some hurt pride over not getting course record. It wasn’t his fault; or rather, it was, but she shouldn’t be  _ mad _ at him for it. He looked over and saw someone else, Malach he figured, staring at him with a curious gaze.

“Did you take drugs, Fanexos?” Malach asked out of nowhere.

“What? No, of course not,” Anaxis responded. “I just got lucky. OK? That’s all there is to it. Don’t worry about a cadet spot, I’m not interested in one.”

“Oh, I’m not worried about a cadet spot. I just want to know how you did that, is all,” Malach clarified, approaching with a hand extended. “Malach Egdoin, I don’t think we’ve ever formally met.”

Anaxis took it out of courtesy and shook. “Anaxis. I don’t go by my last name.”

“Why not? Family’s something you should be proud of,” Malach questioned.

“It’s personal,” Anaxis responded. “Anyway.”

That was all Anaxis said in good-bye as he turned and made his way away from Malach and the training grounds. He wasn’t interested in all of this questioning, which would no doubt keep going for the next few days as suddenly everybody wanted to get to know Anaxis Fanexos, the new agility superstar of Capital City Civic Academy and possibly the next cadet at the Imperial Complex. You know, after years of not caring about Anaxis Fanexos, the person.

That was something else about the Empire he didn’t like. You weren’t a person. You were an asset, or a liability. That was it.

The day dragged on as Plades lectured on about all the procedures and workings of the Imperial Senate and how much better it all was than the Republic Senate, despite the fact that both sounded equally pointless and boring. When Anaxis asked when they’d return to Jedi lessons, Plades said they’d approach it bit by bit every day for the next week. Anaxis had to suppress a sigh - it was the first interesting lesson in months, and it was being chopped up to span a whole week. At least he had something look forward to every day.

He quickly made his way out of the school building once the day was over and headed into the streets, though not straight home like he had initially planned. He needed to stop sharing breathing space with these people and spend time with someone who knew him. His mother certainly didn’t meet that description.


	5. Good News in the Slums

“Zex?” Anaxis called out. He heard no response from the little hut Zex used to live in before he got into trouble last time.

It was late in the afternoon and the sun was in the western half of the sky, casting long shadows from the slummy shanties and making everything darker than it should be. Anaxis looked around, wondering where Zex would be. He saw all the outcasts and aliens meandering around on their business; aliens weren’t allowed to live in the city, and plenty of refugees evicted from other worlds made their home here. You’d think things would stay peaceful, but Anaxis saw two different fights nearly break out between human refugees and aliens.

He heard alien chattering, and turned. A Rodian was squawking away at him, making all kinds of sounds he didn’t understand. He seemed like he was angry, with all the arm gestures and his tone of voice. Maybe he just didn’t like seeing a new human around, or maybe he didn’t like seeing someone looking for Zex. Either way, the alien was getting up into Anaxis’s space, and started poking him in the chest hard.

Anaxis was worried things were about to get violent when a familiar voice called out. “Hey, Woodulu, leave him alone! He’s a friend of mine,” Zex called out. Anaxis looked over and saw his friend in his dark jacket with the bandage-like gloves and ripped-up pants approaching, hands in his pockets. The Rodian glared at the boy, gave Anaxis a shove, and walked off. Anaxis looked at Zex.

“You know that guy?” Anaxis asked.

“Woodulu’s a newcomer, I gave him some food to make him welcome. He doesn’t trust too well, probably thought you were just some Imperial come to make fun of everyone,” Zex explained. 

“That’s why I like you, Zex,” Anaxis said with a bemused smile. “You’re starving every day but you give free food to a Rodian with a temper like a rancor beast?”

“Saved your hide from getting a beating, didn’t it? It pays to make friends, Naxy,” Zex remarked. “Anyway, welcome back to my humble palace,” he invited, holding up the flap leading into his hut to admit Anaxis, who entered. Zex followed him in. It was a small space, lit a burnt orange by a dingy lighting unit, but it had plenty of storage crates and a little cot with padding, plus heating units and a filter. Compared to most other places in the shanty, this was a luxury mansion.

“So how was your haul today?” Anaxis asked, sitting down on the sturdy pillow that passed for a chair. “Did you get away with anything good?”

“Nah, I had to bail before I even really got started,” Zex complained, sitting on his cot across from Anaxis. “I just went pocket-picking instead.”

“And?” Anaxis pried. Zex smiled and pulled a fistful of credit chits out of his pocket.

“Over a hundred creds. Half of them are going into my savings, the other half are going towards your license.”

Anaxis paused, gaping at what Zex just said. “Wait… what?”

“Your license,” Zex repeated, smiling. “You’ve already passed the exams for it, you just need the fees, right? And you’re fifty creds short, right? So take fifty creds and pay it off and get your license,” he insisted.

“Zex, I can’t,  _ you _ can’t, you need those creds more than I do,’ Anaxis insisted.

“Are you kidding? I can lift as many in a day, I could do it  _ tomorrow _ . Your mom never gives you a single chit, and you don’t have time for a job,” Zex argued.

“How do I explain to my mother where I got the credits for my pilot license? She’ll think I stole them,” Anaxis countered.

“Just tell her you turned in a criminal and got a little reward for it or something. As long as you make it sound like the Empire gave them to you she’ll totally buy it,” Zex claimed confidently. Honestly, he was right.

“I still wouldn’t have a ship, though,” Anaxis reminded.

“But you’ll be able to  _ buy _ one, is the thing,” Zex pointed out. “That’s what my savings are going towards, after all.

“ _ Zex _ ,” Anaxis hissed. “You’ve been stashing creds away for  _ years _ , you can’t blow them all on me!”

“On  _ us _ , Naxy,” Zex corrected, rising from the cot only to go on his knees and lean in close to Anaxis, letting the dusky light of the lantern accentuate the angles of his face with shadows, the orange light sparkling on his brown eyes. He steadied himself by placing his hands on Anaxis’ thighs. “We’ve been planning it forever. You get your license and we get a ship and blast off from this dump and go find our own place in the stars.”

“Zex…” Anaxis whispered again, placing one hand over one of Zex’s. “What about my mother? She needs someone taking care of her. She gets stipends for sending me to school, but if I drop out, she’ll be helpless.”

Zex just rolled his eyes and flashed his playful smirk. “Does that really matter?”

“Yes, Zex, it does,” Anaxis emphasized firmly. Firmer than he meant to.

Zex’s smile fell a bit, and he looked a little crestfallen. “Nax, she’s  _ horrible _ . You really want to spend time and money providing for her after everything she’s put you through?”

“It wouldn’t be right for me to just zip around the galaxy with you if it meant abandoning my mother,” Anaxis stated. Zex looked even sadder now as his smile fell away completely.

“You can’t honestly be defending her,” he doubted. “You can’t honestly be choosing her over me.”

“I’m  _ not _ , Zex, you  _ know  _ that,” Anaxis assured, cupping Zex’s face with both hands. “I just need to cover my bases. She raised me, I can’t just leave without making sure she’s cared for. I couldn’t live with myself otherwise.”

Zex slid his hands up from the thighs around the waist and pulling his friend closer until their abdomens were touching. “I know… I’m sorry, Nax, I’m just…” he sighed, “I’m just so tired of being here. I’m so tired of being nothing to everybody.”

“I know, Zex,” Anaxis whispered, sliding a hand back to comb through Zex’s pale, almost white hair. “I’ll get my license, we’ll get a ship, and we’ll figure something out for my mom. It doesn’t have to be a lot. Just so I know she’ll be alright when we leave. Then we’re off this rock forever.”

Zex pressed his forehead against Anaxis’. “I can’t wait.”

“For what it’s worth,” Anaxis whispered, stroking Zex’s hair once more as he slid his arms down to wrap around his neck, “you’re everything to me.”

Zex smile, and for a beautiful moment, everything else about the universe stopped mattering, and it was just the two of them. The two of them, wrapped in each other, smiling and looking into each other’s eyes, not quite free but happy to be where they were.

And then Anaxis’ comm-link went haywire with beeping, and the rest of the universe came rushing back to remind them both of its existence. He sighed. “Probably my mom,” he figured. Zex sighed sadly as he tore himself from his partner and went over to the crates to get something to eat. Anaxis answered the hail.

“I’m here,” he said.

“And just where the stars is ‘here,’ young man??” His mother’s voice demanded to know. “School has been over for  _ two hours _ , and you  _ still _ aren’t home. You  _ best _ not be out with any of those shady figures you gravitated around!”

“No, mom, no, it’s a long story, but I have good news, I’ll explain when I get home,” he said.

“Well for all the worry you’ve caused me you’d better have the Commandant himself singing your praises!!” She shrieked before disconnecting the line.

“What an absolute banshee,” Zex groaned as he munched on a processed food bar.

“Well, I  _ do _ have the Commandant on my side,” Anaxis said. “I broke a course record for agility today.”

“Seriously? I’m not even surprised. You’ve got mad moves, Naxy,” Zex remarked.

“I just got lucky, is all,” Anaxis swore. “I guess people think I did drugs or something to pull it off.”

“As if straight-edge Anaxis would  _ ever _ do drugs,” Zex mocked. “At least, not performance-enhancing drugs, I guess. So does that mean you’re gonna be a cadet? Serving the big mighty Empire and kicking criminals and insurgents in the ass from Coruscant to Kessel?” He joked.

“I give it a Selkath’s chance on Sullust,” Anaxis joked back. “Now I need to go, or my mom will skin me before I even get to say anything.”

“Here, then, take these,” Zex said, taking fifty credits in chits and giving it to Anaxis. “And take this,” he added, grabbing Anaxis’ face and kissing him for a few seconds. He smiled when they broke the kiss. “For the road.”

“Then consider this your nightly ration,” Anaxis replied, kissing Zex back. “Now behave yourself, and don’t get arrested.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” Zex loosely saluted. Anaxis pocketed the chits, and slid out from the hut. 

He started making his way back to the city, but paused after a few steps. A familiar feeling was pulling at him. He turned, but there was no man this time. He ignored it, and kept walking. After a few seconds, though, he suddenly ducked out of instinct, and felt something fly over his head. He looked over, and saw a rock rolling away from him. He turned to see who had thrown it, but saw no one. He wondered if Woodulu had darted away without him noticing, but decided against pressing it. 

What he didn’t see hiding behind a nearby tent was a man with dark brown hair and a beard, peeking at him stealthily, stroking his beard in quiet thought.


	6. Bad News Back Home

Within the hour, Anaxis had returned to his home. He walked in the door, and, as expected, saw his mother sitting with an angry glare and a glass of blue milk, probably spiked, on the table next to her.

“Now,” his mother started, “let’s hear this ‘good news’ and see if it’s good enough to keep me from grounding you for the next month.”

“Well, I’ve got  _ two _ pieces of good news,” he opened. “First, we had agility trial today at the academy, and I finished first. I broke the course record. The Commandant was there and everything, he said he could see a promising future for me as a cadet,” he relayed. His mother listened intently, her eyes widening at the mention of the Commandant. She nodded approvingly.

“Now  _ there _ is some good news, for once! For once in our lives, good news!” She exclaimed. “I’m so relieved to hear you setting yourself up better than your father ever would’ve pushed you to,” she extolled. “Oh, you’ll get your degree, and then go off to the Complex to become a  _ trooper _ , very good, very good!”

“Well, that’s not all, mom,” he went on. “On my way back from school, I caught a pickpocket stealing from people, and I lied to him and said I was a friend leading him to good marks, and brought him right to an Imperial patrol and turned him in!” He lied. His mother nodded approvingly, but didn’t seem impressed. “As it turned out, there was a little bounty on him, and…” he trailed off, taking the credit chits from his pocket and presenting them. “There’s enough to pay the fees for my piloting license.”

His mother looked at the credits, but her face looked… disappointed. She sighed and stood up. “Anaxis, are you truly still trying to pursue that tired old fantasy of yours?”

“I… well, yeah, mom, it’s my dream,” he replied, stammering to hear a reaction like that.

“And here I thought all you had of your father was your eyes, you’ve got his wits, too, it seems,” she mocked. “You just told me you’ve got the Commandant himself practically inviting you into the trooper corps, and you’re still wanting to be a pilot, zipping about and doing absolutely nothing to contribute to the galaxy?”

“I want to  _ see _ the galaxy, mom, contributing to it is kind of a secondary focus for me,” he stated.

“It ought to be  _ primary _ , and  _ singular _ , boy,” his mother chastised. “The Empire has provided so  _ much _ for you - you don’t know what it was like under the Republic, or living during those awful Clone Wars. You owe it to them to pay them back with your service!” She argued.

“I don’t  _ owe _ them  _ anything, _ mom,” he countered, putting the chits back in his pocket. “ _ You’re _ the one who provided everything for me, which is why I want to make enough credits to support you.”

“You can do that just fine in the military,” she pointed out.

“And I can do it and be  _ happy _ as a freelance pilot,” he shot back.

“Your father tried telling me that back when we were just getting our start, back in the day,” she said, her voice lowering. He sighed - she was pulling out the big guns. “Said we’d be fine, hopping planet to planet, doing odd jobs, seeing the universe. Then we had you, and  _ I _ knew we had to settle down for you, but did he accept that? No, so he left us high and dry.”

“Mom…” Anaxis tried to interrupt, but she would have none of it as she walked up close to him.

“Are you going to do the same, Anaxis? Are you just going to go off and do as your father did before you? Have I taught you  _ nothing _ about  _ honor _ ? About  _ respect _ ? About paying back what you owe?” She questioned. He kept his gaze downward. “You go to your room and you think long and hard about that. And you think long and hard about making your own mother have to remember a man as awful as your father. Go on.  _ Go,” _ she ordered. He rushed away from her into the house to his room. “ _ And wash your hair, damn you!” _ She called after him.

He stormed into his room and punched the door control to close it tight before locking it. He sat himself down on his bed and threw his bag across the room before burying his face in his hands. He couldn’t believe her. He finally had the keys to his dream and  _ this _ was how she reacted? He finally had a chance to be happy and she just… tore it apart?

But what if she were right? He wasn’t thinking about how she felt. Maybe he  _ was _ being selfish and taking after his dad. Maybe he should slow down and reconsider maybe spending a term at the Complex to see if he liked being a trooper. Maybe being in the military  _ would _ make him happy; he could be a military pilot, couldn’t he?

He slapped himself out of that one.  _ Zex _ was what made him happy. Zex, space, and being in the cockpit of a ship that  _ he _ controlled. And Zex had been there for him,  _ always _ , even when his mother wasn’t.  _ Especially _ when his mother wasn’t. Honor, respect, paying back what he owed - that all pointed towards those three things,  _ not _ the Complex.

He felt the not-breeze again. He looked outside the window on the wall opposite his door. In the dusky light and crowds going home for the day, there was the silhouette of a man. Part of him wanted to climb out the window and approach the man and demand to know why he was following him around. It was almost to the point of stalking, really. But for some reason, he knew that he wasn’t a threat. He didn’t feel worried at all, and that, paradoxically, worried him. He thought of Plades’ stories about how Jedi could allegedly control minds. Was he being lulled into a false sense of security by a Jedi?

He dismissed the idea. The Jedi were all gone. This was just his intuition telling him that a strange follower wasn’t a danger to him. He shut the blinds on his window and plopped onto his bed, letting thoughts go through his mind, about Zex, about his mom, about the future, until he finally fell asleep.


	7. (4-13.541977)(4-13.541980)

**_[IMPERIAL MISSIVE 4-13.541977]_ **

**FROM** : CMNDT Bexley Poro, Maran System, Sector 15, Oversector Outer

**TO** : INQST ALPHA

**SUBJECT** : Subjects of Interest

**BODY** :

> _ As per protocol, I am informing the proper authorities of three (3) students currently enrolled in the Maran Civic Academy who have demonstrated abilities matching the special criterion issued by the Imperial Inquisitorius. Their names and records are attached. _

**ATTACHMENTS** _ : _

> _ anaxis-fanexos.ier _
> 
> _ malach-egdoin.ier _
> 
> _ ophi-pharalia.ier _

* * *

 

_**[IMPERIAL MISSIVE 4-13.541980]** _

**FROM** : INQST ALPHA

**TO** : CMNDT Bexley Poro, Maran System, Sector 15, Oversector Outer

**SUBJECT** : Re:Subjects of Interest

**BODY** :

> _ Acknowledged. INQST 3 dispatched. Arrival within twenty-four (24) standard hours. _


	8. Bad Start to a Bad Day

Anaxis woke up slowly, despite the shrieking alarm going off on his personal datapad. He reached over and hit the dismiss button, lurching out of his bed and trying to blink the grog out of his eyes until it stopped hurting to keep them open. He rubbed his face - it hadn’t been a good night’s rest, but that didn’t matter. It was the last day of the school week, and it was the day he got his pilot’s license, whether his mother wanted him to or not.

Slowly but surely, he managed to get himself standing, and he walked into his bathroom. He stepped inside the refresher and hit the lowest setting, letting the chemicals and moistened air jet around him until he was clean and dry. He ran a hand through his hair - it was still messy and knotted in a lot of places, but it wasn’t greasy anymore. That would satisfy his mother, he figured.

Stepping out, he put on his clothes for the day. He picked a simple cerulean shirt and a brown cargo vest over it (never knew when he’d need pockets), and slid on his pants and shoes. He packed his bag, making sure his credit chits were safely stowed away inside where pickpockets couldn’t get them, and moved for the door. Before he left, he turned around and opened the blinds on his window to peek outside. Just the average flow of traffic - he didn’t see any strange men staring at him this time. Content to know his stalker had left him alone, he closed the blinds again and started to leave the house.

He was stepped, however, by his mother, who was sitting in her morning robe with a cup of some hot drink at the table. She was staring at him expectantly.

“Um… morning, mom,” he greeted awkwardly. He didn’t know what she wanted from him.

“Am I still your mother, then?” She asked. “You’re not going to disown me and run off for the shantytown like your friend did to his family?”

“Mom, that’s not what happened to Zex,” he stated. But of course she wouldn’t care.

“Don’t try to correct your mother, young man,” she chided. “Now, I am sorry that I had to raise my voice with you last night, and I hope now that you’ve had time to cool down and think, you can see why I had to be so firm with you.”

“So you’re sorry you raised your voice, but you’re not sorry for anything you said?” Anaxis asked.

“Of course not, sweetie,” she said, as plainly as if she were observing the weather. “I said everything I should’ve said, to look out for you as your mother.”

“You compared me to dad and tried to make me feel like a child,” Anaxis reminded.

“Because you were  _ reminding  _ me of your father and you were  _ behaving _ like a child,” she argued. Before he could try countering, she simply sighed and waved him away. “Just go to school, son. Obviously you need to think things over more.”

_ Fine by me _ , Anaxis thought to himself as he turned and stormed out of the household. He was so angry that he almost didn’t notice the pale hair and dark jacket leaning against the walls of a building nearby.

“Zex?” He asked, walking up to him. “What are you doing here? You know if my mom sees you she’ll rat to the Imps,” he chastised.

“I’m not worried about your mom right now, Nax,” he said quietly. “I’m worried about… you.”

“About me?” Anaxis asked, confused. “What about me?”

“I don’t know, I just… I had a bad feeling. I wanted to check on you, make sure you were alright,” Zex explained, rubbing his eye with a gloved hand. Nax could tell from the redness in his eyes that he hadn’t slept well last night, either.

“Well, I’m fine. Totally alright. I mean, my mom was a total schutta last night, telling me I couldn’t get my license because she wants me to go into the trooper corps… but I’m going to get my pilot’s license after school, and she’s not going to stop me,” he assured.

“Hey… maybe call it in sick today?” Zex suggested. “Or something? I really need help with a thing today, and…”

“Zex, you know I can’t do that,” Anaxis reminded. “I need to stay in school for a little longer until my mom has a leg to stand on. Maybe just pick up a job with the shipwright for today, I can’t help you,” he finished, starting to go off for school. Zex grabbed him by the arm.

“Nax, please, man, I just… I have a  _ really  _ bad feeling about you going to school today,” Zex said. Anaxis was about to make a snide remark about how that’s what Zex said when he  _ started _ school, but he could see in Zex’s wide eyes and slightly gaping mouth that he was being serious. He never saw Zex get this worked up.

“Zex, it’s just school,” Anaxis promised. “I’ll go and barely pay attention and pass everything without trying, like always, and then I’ll go to the license bureau, and then straight to your place. You can even meet me outside the school complex, if you want.”

“Just… be careful, OK?” Zex pushed. Anaxis sighed and nodded.

“Of course. I’ll see you after school, Zex. Be safe,” he said as he made his way away for the school building. Zex stood there, staring after him, trying to ignore the feeling in his gut that told him to chase after his friend. He convinced himself he was being paranoid, and disappeared into an alleyway. He’d have to talk to his new buddy about it - he’d probably know what to do. He seemed like a guy who would at least give good advice.


	9. Playing Hookie

“As promised,” Plades opened as the bell finished ringing, “today we will continue our overview of the Jedi Order. Yesterday we covered their basic beliefs, practices, and primary role in galactic affairs; today, we will identify the factors contributing to their rise in galactic society in the first place, which will provide us an excellent springboard for next week when we start to discuss their place in the Clone Wars and their disbandment. First, a review. Who can tell me the fundamental belief of the Jedi Order and its most prominent flaw? Ms. Pharalia?”

“The Jedi believed in a supernatural energy field called ‘the Force’ which was the ultimate cosmological power in the universe, which is flawed because it’s a primitive myth established by pre-hyperspace mystics and propagated by corrupt power systems benefiting from belief in it,” Ophi answered.

“Very good, Ms. Pharalia,” Plades praised. “Specifically, it was propagated by the power systems of the Old Republic, who employed the Jedi as enforcers. By convincing the galaxy that they were supported by magical super-warriors, the Old Republic flourished on a foundation of fear. Fortunately, we now have an honorable and honest Empire to maintain order and dispense justice. Now, who can tell me the three primary identifiers of a Jedi?” He asked. “Mr. Egdoin?”

“Possession of a lightsaber, wearing antiquated and plain garments, and numerous references to the Force,” Malach answered. Plades shook his head.

“Partial credit, Mr. Egdoin,” he stated. “References to their backwards deity are to be expected, but such references are a part of a larger behavior, which is cryptic and eccentric in general. A Jedi will say and do strange things outside the realm of social conformity and reason. Appearing and disappearing in random places, speaking in riddles or convoluted sentences, the like,” Plades clarified.  “It makes it very easy to identify a Jedi in public, at very least.”

Anaxis suddenly perked up - something in his mind suddenly started jumping to conclusions. He shot his hand up, wanting a little bit of information and hoping his teacher could actually give him some.

“What is it, Mr. Fenaxos?” Plades asked, rolling his eyes in displeasure at the interruption.

“This is… completely hypothetical, but…” he trailed off. Plades glared at him expectantly, and gestured for him to get on with it. “What should we do if we think we’ve spotted a Jedi?”

A few people in the class suppressed giggles. Plades sighed and rolled his eyes. “The Jedi are all _dead_ , Mr. Fenaxos,” he reminded. “Their order is snuffed out of the universe. You’ll never spot a Jedi, and you should be thankful for that.”

“Well, what if some survived? Shouldn’t we, I don’t know, report it to the Empire?” Anaxis questioned. He knew how to get an Imperial to spill more information than they were supposed to; Zex had picked it up from his years of messing with troopers.

“ _If_ you saw a Jedi, and confirmed with a psychiatrist that it wasn’t a hallucination,” Plades said, “reporting it to any Imperial authority would suffice. They would inform the proper authorities, who would handle it from there.”

“What if we tried talking to the Jedi? I don’t know, take a peaceful approach?” Anaxis asked.

“There _is_ no peaceful approach with Jedi,” Plades criticized, his posture straightening as his eyes widened into a more menacing expression. “They are armed and dangerous, and will require direct attention from the Empire to be handled. Get it through your skull, boy: Jedi. Are. Dangerous.”

“Yes, instructor,” Anaxis conceded. Plades didn’t know it, but he told Anaxis exactly what he wanted to know. The ‘hypothetical’ was apparently not as hypothetical as his teacher tried to make it sound - he said the Jedi _are_ armed and dangerous. _Present_ tense.

Suddenly, a cold chill came over Anaxis. He shivered, and leaned over his desk. The breeze was there again, but it wasn’t gentle this time. It was course, rough, cold, and it made him feel deeply uneasy. His heart picked up in pace, and he felt like he had to leave the building quickly. Maybe his instincts were catching up to Zex’s.

“Instructor, I’m feeling sick, may I be excused?” Anaxis asked. Plades audibly groaned.

“I am not a gullible rodent, Mr. Fenaxos, I know you’re trying to play hookie. No, you may not be -”

“Attention citizens,” the P.A. system suddenly blared, “the following students are to report to the main office at once: Anaxis Fenaxos; Ophi Pharalia; Malach Egdoin. Bring all personal effects. No delays. Thank you.”

Plades looked at the students in his classroom and sighed. “Go on, then, go. Don’t keep them waiting.”

The three of them stood and gathered their things before filing out of the classroom. Anaxis couldn’t get over the panic settling into his system. He felt like he was walking right towards the source of his fears.

“Do you think it’s about the agility trial?” Ophi asked. “I wonder if they’re going to offer as a cadet position,” she supposed excitedly.

“Maybe not a cadethood just yet, but I’m hoping it has something to do with that,” Malach replied smugly. Something about his tone made it sound like he knew something he wasn’t sharing. “What about you, Anaxis? What do you think this is about?” He asked. Anaxis looked at him and Ophi, and knew he had to make a choice about what he was about to do. He decided it wasn’t really a choice.

“I don’t know, but I need to use the bathroom. I’m really feeling sick,” he lied.

“They said no delays,” Ophi reminded. “You don’t want to leave them waiting, do you?” She asked, more pointedly than necessary.

“Better to leave them waiting than throw up in front of them, right?” He half-heartedly joked. “Just tell them I’m sick, I don’t care,” was all he said as he split away from the two of them and went almost sprinting down the halls. He had to get out of this building and as far from it as possible for as long as possible. He thought about his pilot’s license - it wouldn’t do any good if he didn’t have a ship, and Zex probably didn’t have enough credits yet to buy them one, but it wouldn’t hurt to pick it up, anyway.

He’d have to think on his feet. For right now, he was exiting the school complex, and that was a step forward. He hoped it was in the right direction.


	10. Not-So-Friendly Advice

Zex approached the rundown warehouse, his hands in his pockets like always. In this corner of town, he had to be tough, or at least tough-looking. He didn’t know how his friend managed to live here without ever ending up with more scars and bruises, but he did it all the same. In the weeks he spent hiding out in this warehouse, that man had fed and tended to him every day without any issues. He owed the guy big time. Zex liked him; he was down to earth, he understood people and the galaxy. Zex felt like he was hiding things, but he respected that. Everyone was hiding something.

He tapped four times quickly on the small personnel door to the side of the main bay door, the secret way of letting the inhabitant know it was a friend coming by. He waited for a few seconds; he knew it might take a second to get to the door. Finally, the door opened up, and inside was the familiar friendly face with the dark brown beard and scar on the eye.

“Hey, friend,” Zex said with his easygoing smile. “How’s it flying?”

“Zex, hello,” his friend greeted. “Come inside, why don’t you. I’m sure we have much to discuss,” he invited.

“Don’t mind if I do,” Zex responded, entering the spacious warehouse. It had some makeshift furniture huddled together in one corner, the rest was empty crates and space. Zex helped himself to a seat at the ‘table’.

“What brings you to me today, Zex?” He asked innocently. It sounded innocent, anyway. Zex felt like there was more to it, but he didn’t care right now.

“Well, it’s my best friend, Nax,” Zex said, not losing his smile. “I’m kind of worried about him right now, thought you might have some advice for me,” he said.

“Is that so?” His friend asked, sitting down himself and leaning back in his chair. The whole air of the space felt so peaceful with him around, Zex couldn’t explain it. “Is he in some kind of trouble, or is it a different kind of worry?”

“Well, uh… I don’t really know, I guess,” Zex admitted, deciding to be more honest than he had initially wanted to be. “He’s not in any trouble right now, I don’t think. In fact, everything is going great - he’s getting his license today, and in a week I’ll probably have enough credits to buy us a ship, so we’ll be able to leave then, I think.”

The older man nodded. “And yet…?”

“I…” he trailed off, trying to find the words. “Alright, this is going to sound really stupid, so don’t laugh, OK?” Zex requested.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Zex,” he promised. The sincerity in the words put Zex at ease quickly.

“OK…” Zex took in a deep breath. “I had… a dream about him last night. It was vivid, like it was real life. I saw him being dragged away by someone, a woman, but I don’t think it was his mother, because she was off to the side, just… standing there. Not doing anything. I tried to help him, tried to get him away, but something was holding me back, and then he just… stopped struggling. And something about him changed, he looked… wrong, somehow, and he walked up to me with this  _ evil _ smile and he…” Zex trailed off. The vision felt so fresh in his head. The fear. It made him pause and take in a shaky breath. So much for looking tough. He looked at his friend, who was staring at him intensely.

“And you woke up with a bad feeling about today? About him?” He asked. “And it won’t let you go?”

“I… yeah, yeah, I did,” Zex answered. He and his friend both sat up straighter at the same time. His friend leaned in.

“Zex, I need you to find your friend,” his friend ordered. “He needs to go home at once and pack. Valuables and essentials only, don’t spend too much time there. Tell him to pack light. Then the two of you need to meet me at your shelter.”

“Wait, what?” Zex asked, his brows furrowing and his mouth gaping in confusion. “What’s going on? Is he in danger?”

His friend stood up. “There’s no time to explain, but I promise you, Zex, everything will be fine if you  _ hurry _ ,” he said quickly, before going over to another part of the warehouse.

“But Nax is in school right now, I can’t just pull him out!” Zex complained.

“Are you  _ sure _ he’s at school?” His friend asked, pausing to turn and face him again. “Search your feelings, trust your instincts. Find him, if your want to avoid never seeing him again,” he warned before going off and ending the conversation. Zex stood for a moment, processing what just happened, before all of his senses rushed to him at once and he sprinted out of the warehouse in a panic.

For some reason, he knew Anaxis wasn’t at school.


	11. Meanwhile...

Malach sat obediently in the chair he was offered. He was quiet, ramrod, and kept his eyes forward, his hands folded together on his lap. Ophi was jittery, fidgeting with her hands and moving about in her chair, overcome with excitement and enthusiasm. Malach was just happy she at least kept quiet; she was being annoying enough.

The room was almost empty. It was like an interrogation room, but with the table removed. The lights buzzed above them softly. It was the only sound in the room aside from the chair creaking beneath Ophi’s movements. The walls were Imperial white. The floor was Imperial white. There was no deviation in color, texture, or pattern from wall to wall or anywhere on the floor. It was perfect uniformity. The only deviations in this conformity were the students sitting in the middle of it all, their chairs casting shadows onto the white floor and their breathing and heartbeats adding unnecessary noise to the environment.

Malach sat obediently and quietly. Ophi continued fidgeting.

“Where’s Anaxis?” She asked. Malach sighed, and simply shrugged. Of course he didn’t know anything more than she did. The difference was that he didn’t care.

Footsteps could be heard outside the room. Malach could feel the people on the other side. They felt like important people, powerful people, the kind of people his father had told him about. The people who were to the Empire what the Jedi had been to the Republic. The galaxy’s newer, better, more loyal peacekeepers.

His kind of people.

The door opened, and a woman entered, her hands folded behind her back. She was in a black outfit that seemed like light armor.  Her face was obscured by her helmet’s faceplate - which, unlike any trooper’s helmet, lacked anything resembling a face - and on her shoulders was blazoned the insignia of the Empire in a stark white. She stood in front of the two of them. Malach remained still as he examined her. Ophi’s breathing was audible. She was nervous. She wanted to impress. She was failing.

“The girl is of no interest to me,” the imposing Imperial declared in a low voice which sounded digital through her mask. “She is dismissed.”

Ophi’s eyes widened. She opened her mouth to protest, but stood up and straightened her spine into an attention position and addressed the Imperial.

“Respectfully, ma’am, I haven’t even been given a chance to prove my worth,” she stated. The Imperial slowly turned her head to face her dead on.

“Worth is not  _ proven _ . It is  _ evident _ . Now  _ go _ ,” she stated coldly, turning her attention back to Malach.

“Ma’am, I -” Ophi tried to continue, but she was cut off suddenly, like her vocal cords suddenly stopped working. The woman slowly rose her hand in a cupped shape, and Ophi gagged a bit, then some gagged more, and began coughing, and held her hands up to her throat, trying to grasp at something that wasn’t there. She choked more, until she fell onto the floor. Finally, the woman’s hand fell back behind her back, and Ophi began to breath again, sucking in air.

“ _ Go. _ ” The woman ordered one more time. “Before my patience is exhausted.”

Ophi climbed back onto her feet, and fled in fear through the door. Malach remained as expressionless as the woman’s faceplate through the whole ordeal.

“You are unafraid?” She asked flatly.

“I am intrigued,” Malach corrected.

“Good,” she responded. “I sense you will have a bright future in my organization. We will be in touch,” she promised as she turned to leave, shutting the door behind her.

“...I look forward to it,” Malach said to himself with a smile once she was gone.

The Commandant was waiting outside the room for her. She kept her focus forward as they walked together.

“I was told there were three,” she stated plainly.

“The third seems to have left the school building,” the Commandant explained. “The headmaster says he is a problem child, I don’t believe he is of any value to your organization.”

“I will be the judge of that,” she stated. “Find the boy. Bring him to me. Inform me when he is located.”

“And what will you be doing?” The Commandant asked.

“I sense something… else, here,” she revealed. “Something familiar. I am going to hunt for it.”

“And if you… find it?” The Commandant inquired, knowing little of what she was talking about.

“Tell me, Commandant,” she said, finally turning to look at him. “What is the natural conclusion of a hunt where the predator finds the prey?”


	12. Escalation

“Here you are, sir,” the clerk droid buzzed, handing over the shiny card. “That pilot’s license is indefinitely valid for all C class vessels. B class vessels require special training; A class vessels are off-limits to civilians. Do you have any questions?”

“None at all,” Anaxis said as he took the license. 

He looked over the little thing, smiling at it. He didn’t have a ship, but this was a step forward. He’d have to find Zex and let him know, and ask if he could stay at his shelter for a while. He tried thinking of something to tell his mother, or at least something to set her up financially, but she’d just have to find some clerical work or something until he started making enough credits as a pilot to set a fund up for her. He wasn’t going back to school any time soon, and for that reason, he wasn’t going home, either.

He stepped out of the license bureau and into the town center, which the Imperial Complex loomed over like a watchful eye. He pocketed his license and started walking for home when he heard someone calling his name. He turned and saw Zex, looking sweaty and flushed with exercise.

“Anaxis! Nax!!” Zex shouted, running towards him. He slowed down and stopped and started to catch his breath.

“Zex? What’s going on, are you being chased?” Anaxis asked quickly, worried.

“What? No, no, I’m not being chased, but we need to go, like,  _ now _ ,” he relayed.

“Go?” Anaxis repeated, confused now. “Go where?”

“We need to go to your house, you need to get your stuff, we’re in some kind of… some kind of danger,” Zex reported. “There’s no time to explain and I don’t know everything but Nax, you  _ gotta _ trust me,” he pleaded, placing his hands on Anaxis’ shoulders.

“Zex,” Anaxis said quietly, placing his own hands on his friend’s shoulders. “I trust you.”

“Then let’s get going,” Zex said, dashing off as Anaxis followed.

They bolted through the streets, moving quickly but not shoving anyone aside or being too noisy about it. It was the middle of the day, so street traffic was light, and they were already fairly close to Anaxis’ house without having to go through the marketplace, where the traffic would be thickest. They managed to get all the way to the street leading to Anaxis’ place before they ran into trouble.

“ _ Shit, _ ” Zex swore. There was a squad of stormtroopers walking down the street towards the house.

“They’re just troopers,” Anaxis pointed out, “I haven’t done anything to make them mad at me.”

“That you know of,” Zex countered. “Besides, you cut school, they might try to force you to go back for discipline or whatever,” he added. Anaxis sighed - he was right.

“Well, what do we do?” Anaxis asked. Zex thought for a moment.

“I have an idea,” he said. “Get out of sight for a second, I’m going to go do my civic duty and report a crime.”

Before Anaxis could ask for clarification, Zex dashed ahead. Groaning at his friend’s brashness, he hid behind a crate and waited to see what would happen. Zex approached the stormtroopers, and forcefully got their attention. They tried to chastise him for interrupting them, but he put on a really impressive show. Looked all freaked out and scared and everything. The troopers all looked at each other, then their sergeant waved for them to follow as they changed course and started heading down another street. Zex relaxed and waved Anaxis over.

“What did you do?” Anaxis asked as they caught up to each other and started walking to his house again.

“Told them I saw someone with a blaster headed to the marketplace on a commlink saying something about a shoot-up,” Zex explained with a smirk. “Thought it’d be big enough to spook them away.”

“What happens when they don’t find anyone with a blaster shooting up the market?” Anaxis asked.

“We’ll be out of here by then, if you move fast enough,” Zex replied. “Speaking of which, let’s move it.”

The two of them made their way to the door, which Anaxis opened up. They bolted in, going straight for Anaxis’ room. At this time of day, his mother was fast asleep, resting and keeping her strength up in her old age. That’s the way she phrased it, anyway.

“Valuables and essentials only,” Zex muttered. “Pack light, he said,” he added.

“Who’s ‘he’?” Anaxis asked as he began packing his bag with his most important possessions. His datapad, his grandmother’s lucky crystal, his dad’s flight goggles, all the little trinkets and heirlooms he had gathered over the years.

“My friend, the one that helped me lay low these past few weeks,” Zex said. “He’s going to help us get out of… whatever mess we’re in.”

“Do we even know what mess we’re in?” Anaxis asked as he shoved clothes and personal items into his bag.

“No, but I know it’s a big mess. This friend of mine? He doesn’t spook easy, and he looked  _ spooked _ ,” Zex explained as Anaxis clamped his bag down and finished packing.

“Alright, well, where to now? Where’s your friend?” Anaxis asked.

“He said to meet him at my place, let’s go,” Zex said. Anaxis followed him, but he stopped suddenly, causing Anaxis to bump into him.

“Zex, what -” he started, before seeing what the problem was.

His mother, standing in front of the door. She didn’t look happy.

“So this is it, huh?” She asked. “Seventeen long years I give up to raise you, all by myself, and  _ this _ is how you repay me?”

“Mom, I-”

“ _ Shut up, boy, _ ” she hissed. “ _ You _ are going to listen to  _ me _ for once!” She declared. “I gave you  _ life _ , and when your father  _ abandoned me _ , I stayed with you and I took care of you and I gave up  _ everything _ for you!” She rambled on, throwing her arms around in wide, angry gestures. “And now here you are, preparing to scamper away and  _ abandon  _ me, just like your father did!”

“Mom, this isn’t -”

“SHUT UP!!” She shouted. “You’re  _ worse _ than your father! He just  _ lied _ about loving me! I could understand that kind of evil! But to betray your  _ mother _ ? That’s a kind of evil that’s  _ beyond _ me,” she wailed, tearing up with rage.

“Mrs. Fenaxos, you’re -” Zex tried to interrupt, but she only turned to him now.

“And  _ you _ ,” she snapped, “ _ you’re _ the reason behind my son’s corruption! He was such a sweet, loving boy before he met  _ you _ ! You… you should be in  _ prison _ !” She remembered. “You were supposed to be arrested! You’re a criminal!” She shrieked.

“ _ Mom, _ ” Anaxis tried to warn, but she just went on.

“You’ve brought a  _ criminal _ into my house! You… you’re an  _ accomplice _ !” She accused, her tears flowing openly. “I’ll call the troopers on you  _ both _ ! Maybe  _ prison _ will teach you some  _ respect, _ eh, son??”

Zex sighed, his face crumpling like he was making a hard decision, before reaching into his jacket, taking out a small device, and pointing it at the shambling mess in front of him. He pressed a button, and a blue light blasted out, hitting her, and causing her to crumble to the floor. Anaxis’ eyes flared open.

“ _ What did you do to my mom?”  _ He demanded to know.

“It’s just a stunner!” He promised. “Just a cheap, one-shot-per-charge stunner. She’ll wake up in a few minutes, I promise Nax, but we don’t have time to waste with her, we need to go! Those troopers will be back soon!”

“How do we even know your friend is being honest? What if he’s just setting us up for something?” Anaxis questioned. He was freaking out, looking at his unconscious mother, wondering what she’d do when she woke up. 

“Nax,  _ trust _ me, you and I  _ both _ know this isn’t a game,” Zex insisted. “We can’t get hung up right now over a sleeping schutta!”

Anaxis stared at his mother. There wasn’t any getting away with this, he realized. Whether this was real or not, his mother would put him in prison. Of that, he had no doubts. He looked at Zex, his face betraying how hard this was being on him.

“Alright… let’s go…” was all he said. Zex nodded, and the two of them were bolting out the door and onto the streets.

“There he is!” Anaxis heard from his left. He turned, and there was the squad of troopers from earlier. “Get him!” A trooper shouted. They began rushing at the two of them, blasters aimed right at them.

“Move!” Zex shouted.


	13. Catching the Scent

The woman kneeled on a rooftop, gazing out over the outskirts of town as storm clouds gathered on the near horizon. Behind her faceplate, her eyes were closed. She reached out with her senses, seeking the presence she had been hunting for the past eight years. She found it, subtle but undeniable. She opened her eyes, and looked across the physical world for where it could be found. She rested her gaze on the slopped-together lean-tos and shanties of the camp outside of town. 

_ Of course,  _ she thought. _ Among the destitute, where the Empire never bothers to look. _

Her commlink beeped. It was the channel the Commandant had opened up to communicate with her privately. She answered.

“We have reports that the boy has been located, ma’am. He is with another boy, fleeing in the direction of the shanties on the town outskirts. My men are in pursuit,” the Commandant reported.

“Continue driving them towards the shanties,” she ordered, “but do not capture them. Have a perimeter established around the entire slum. Cut off all means of escape. I want them surrounded. And have a TIE squadron airborne and ready for either air support or interception.”

“Repectfully, ma’am, isn’t that a bit much for two boys?” The Commandant asked.

“It’s more than just two boys now, Commandant,” she replied, a smile forming under her mask. “My prey is in those slums.”

“...Understood, ma’am…” the Commandant replied hesitantly. 

She cut the connection and stood up, leaping off the rooftop and dashing towards the slums with renewed purpose.


	14. The Panic Before the Storm

“Go, go, go!” Zex shouted, leaping off the rooftop he was on and rolling back onto his feet to keep running. Anaxis stopped at the ledge, dropped down, and let himself fall more gently before turning and racing after Zex.

They had ran halfway across town, with every stormtrooper patrol stopping what they were doing to chase after them. Anaxis had no idea what made every Imperial in the city want to chase him, but there was no way this was all just about playing hookie. They had taken to the rooftops about halfway through the chase - Zex leaped up on some crates and landed on an awning, while Anaxis found roof access on the side of a building. The troopers couldn’t keep up with them, but they weren’t about to slow down and hope that they had given up the chase.

They were now on the outskirts, with the shanties just in front of them. They paused for a moment, catching their breaths.

“What the  _ hell _ has got them so mad at us?” Anaxis asked.

“I don’t know, but they’re serious about this, Nax,” Zex replied. “I’ve never seen the whole city’s garrison turn against someone like that.”

“Wait… if they were so serious about catching us, why didn’t they use their blasters?” Anaxis asked. “Why not just stun us?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care to know, let’s just get to my place,” Zex pushed. “I don’t want to wait around for those troopers to catch up.”

The two of them started walking towards the shanty town before they both paused again. Anaxis felt it again. The breeze. It was distant, but he felt it. This time, it felt like it was the only thing that could keep him safe.

But at the same time, he also felt the same kind of fear he had sensed in the school. It was nearby, and it was moving. It somehow felt more prominent this time, like before it had only been sleeping - now, it was waking up. Anaxis looked at Zex, who looked back at him with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. Anaxis had a feeling it was a reflection of his own face.

“You feel it, too?” Zex asked.

“Yeah… we need to go,  _ now _ ,” Anaxis emphasized.

“Agreed,” Zex said. The two of them started again, moving faster, breaking into a jog after a few steps. They were starting to cramp up and run out of breath, but the adrenaline in their systems wouldn’t let them stop. Neither of them had any idea why it felt like they were running for their lives, but not knowing just made it even scarier.

They rushed through the sloppy lanes around the shanties, heading towards the middle. In the distance, between shacks, Anaxis saw people around the shanty town in what looked like white outfits. Were there stormtroopers surrounding them? Why not just rush in and take them right away? Why just wait out there?

Finally, they saw Zex’s shack. As they approached it, a person in an off-white tan outfit came out, pulling hover-crates out with him. At first Anaxis thought Zex was being robbed at the worst possible time, but then the person stood up and turned, and he saw a familiar face. They slowed down and stopped and panted outside the shack in front of them man, who bent over to look at them.

“Thank the Force you’re here,” he breathed quietly. “I was starting to get worried. Zex, I’ve packed your things for you, we’re getting out of here as quickly as possible, I already have help on the way,” he explained.

“Y-you?” Anaxis panted. “You’re Zex’s friend?”

The man looked Anaxis up and down and smiled. “Yes, I imagine you’d find that a curious coincidence, Anaxis,” he observed.

“Wait, Nax, you know him?” Zex asked, confused.

“He followed me around all day yesterday,” Anaxis pointed out. “Who are you? What do you want? Why are you helping us?”

“I’m sure you both have many questions,” the man stated, “and I will answer as many as I can as soon as you are both safe. For right now -”

The man stopped, and took in a deep breath as his eyes slowly closed. Anaxis and Zex felt it, too. The same deep-rooted fear that Zex felt during his vision and Anaxis felt in the school building. The same presence that they had been running from. They both stood up straight. While the stranger stayed perfectly still, they turned slowly, and looked over at where the source of the all the fear and panic had come from.

A woman in a black outfit that looked like a cross between robes and armor, with white Imperial insignias on her shoulders, walked towards them. Her face was covered by a somewhat ornate helmet with no facial markings save a small visor, unlike any other helmet in the Imperial military. Her helmet and armor blended into the shadow beneath the incoming storm clouds. She approached calmly, but the aliens and refugees around her made a point to get out of her way and clear the area. Zex and Anaxis both instinctively took steps back, until they were behind their friend, who remained still under the sunlight. He turned to face her head on, and opened his eyes. The woman paused a few yards away.

“Kel Andali,” the woman greeted in a low, digitized voice. She sounded pleased. “Imagine my surprise when I landed on this world, an Imperial world, and sensed your presence here.”

“It’s nice to see you, too, Three,” Kel replied. “It’s been a while.”

“I waited for an invitation to your latest hideaway,” she responded. “A daring rescue, a sabotage, some new heroic suicide mission befitting your newfound bravado.”

“Never planned on sending one,” he taunted. “I’ve learned to keep my head down.”

“So I’ve noticed,” she acknowledged, before examining the two young men staring at her with wide eyes from behind her target. “I came here for three students. One was a waste of time, the other showed promise. And now you’ve not only brought me the one I was missing, but  _ another _ promising candidate. How thoughtful of you.”

“You’ll have to content yourself with the one,” he declared, “because these two are coming with me.”

“Is that so?” She asked, reaching behind her back and pulled a half-circular device from it. “I suppose I’ll just have to kill you, then,” she threatened, activating the device, which released a crimson energy blade from its hilt. Anaxis and Zex’s eyes widened even more in fear.

“Kel,” Anaxis whispered, “Kel, she… she has a  _ lightsaber _ ,” he pointed out. Kel merely chuckled.

“I know. But I can top that,” he stated. He reached into the pockets of his trousers, and from them retrieved two metallic shafts, adorned with grips and various decorum, shining under the light of the noon sun. He activated them both; from his right hand sprung a gleaming silver blade, and from his left, a blade that shone as golden as a star.

“Woah… he has  _ two _ lightsabers…” Zex gawked, eyes wide in awe.

“Both of you,” Kel ordered, “grab a crate and head north, but don’t try running the perimeter. I have friends coming that will meet you there.”

“How are they going to get past the troopers?” Anaxis asked.

“Trust them,” Kel said. Anaxis supposed he didn’t have a choice. He and Zex turned, grabbed a hover crate each, and started dashing northward.


	15. Showdown in the Shanties

Kel didn’t turn, keeping his eyes on Three the entire time. The storm clouds finally covered the sun over Kel, draping him in shadows. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Everything else was quiet, save for the hum of their sabers, like a war choir of old singing their low battle hymns.

“You can’t save them, Andali,” Three warned, assuming a ready stance in the silence.

“You haven’t stopped me yet, Three,” he retorted before assuming his own stance and smirking. “Maybe  _ fourth _ time’s the charm.”

She scowled furiously under her helmet at that, and screamed a battle cry as she rushed towards her nemesis, swinging fiercely as their blades interlocked. 

He shoved her back and bent back to dodge her next swing. He threw his momentum forward and struck. She moved her saber and blocked. He brought his off-hand up. She dodged out of the way, stepping out of his range. He stepped up and lunged with one saber. She parried. He brought his back leg behind his front leg and spun like a Ryloth sand-dancer, slashing with each blade. She ducked, then thrusted upwards for his gut like a tunnel-viper. He leaned back and twirled away, twitching two fingers out to reach with the Force as he spun. Two nearby crates hurled towards her. She slashed them apart savagely.

“You’ve gotten a bit faster,” he observed with a smile.

“You haven’t,” she taunted, rushing towards him again. 

He dodged a downward slash, blocked a horizontal strike. He ducked under her saber, spinning down low and bringing his sabers around to strike at her legs. She jumped up and back to avoid the attack, then rushed back with a brutal lunge that he parried quickly. She struck with short, controlled swings, forcing him to take steps back. He parried and dodged, finding it a bit difficult to keep up with her flurry. Finally, her exhaustion caught up to her, and he saw an opening. He struck at her, knocking her lightsaber aside for a precious instant to let him throw the Force forward with his hand. She was launched a few yards back, but landed on her feet, re-assuming her stance quickly.

Kel took in a deep breath, feeling a sheen of sweat forming. He re-centered himself, then assumed a new battle stance before rushing towards her with augmented speed. She brought her lightsaber up in time to block a brutal strike from his main hand, but had to crouch beneath a wide side-sweep from his off-hand. He used his momentum to spin back, swinging his sabers together in a downward motion. She parried them weakly as she tried to stand back up, but was knocked back down into a crouch by the force of the hit. 

She quickly stood up as he closed the distance again, shifting her stance into a more defensive form. He struck with the main hand, and she flowed with the hit as she parried, spinning and striking, only to be blocked by his off hand. He struck out with his main hand, and she crouched down before launching back upwards with a jab. He parried the jab away from him before bringing both sabers down, which she blocked. He laughed as their sabers groaned against the force of each other.

“Is that djem-sho you’re using?” He asked. “You’ve finally learned something new!”

“Your juyo needs work,” she taunted. He merely laughed some more.

“Juyo? As if I’d ever use a form that tasteless,” he replied. “Maybe you should pick it up - thoughtless brutality suits you.” 

She shoved against him, pushing his sabers back. He leaned back to allow her the advantageous position. She was looming over him when he finally shoved back, pushing her off of him and away a few feet.

Three wouldn’t be deterred. She rushed back at him savagely knocking his guard down, then shoved her off-hand out to command the Force. He was launched backwards by the push, crashing into Zex’s empty tent and getting tangled in its collapsed material. He could feel the bruises being seeded, taste the blood in his mouth. She leapt towards him with unnatural power and brought her lightsaber crashing down onto his. With her free hand, she wielded the Force, crushing his off-hand down onto the ground. She started pushing her lightsaber down on his, bringing the silver blade dangerously close to his face. She leaned in close to his face, her black helmet filling his vision behind the crossed blades.

“Give the rest of the Jedi my regards,” she taunted in her low, dark voice.

Kel scowled at her. “I’ve told you before, Three,” he reminded. “I’m  _ not _ a Jedi.”

Taking in a deep breath, Kel reached out with the Force, concentrating on Three’s neck. He felt it as one only could through the Force; felt the blood and air, the raw materials of life, coursing through it, bringing warmth and strength to her entire body, humming their low tone as they rushed through her veins and windpipe. They flowed through her like the Force itself.

He willed them to stop.

Suddenly, Three began gagging. The choking sensation set in quickly and suddenly. The sudden confusion and fear broke her concentration, and after a moment, he shoved her backwards with his silver lightsaber. He stood up, and as she sucked in air, she looked up in time to see him thrust his hand out, shoving her backwards with the power of the Force into a tall stack of crates. Before she could stand, he swung his arm sideways, and launched her into an especially sturdy shelter with a durasteel wall. The deep rumble of the metal gave her impact a vicious emphasis. As she slumped down onto the ground, he lifted her up into the air, and brutally slammed her downwards onto the brown soil of Maran.

Dazed and sore, with a few broken bones, judging by the pain in her ribs, Three slowly stood herself back up. She looked at Kel, who stood with his sabers at his sides, glowering at her fiercely. Lightning flashed in the distance, and the thunder followed it with its low rumble. Three pulled out her commlink.

“Commandant, I want an air strike on the camp. Destroy the whole field,” she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am,” the Commandant replied.

Three stood up straighter, staring her opponent in the eyes. “Everybody in this camp will die, if you don’t surrender.”

“No, they won’t,” he stated. “You’ll need those fighters chasing me.”

“Your ship is nowhere in sight, Andali. You won’t escape this time,” she declared.

Kel smirked as his commlink began beeping. “Are you sure? Because I’ve made some new friends.”

At that moment, a ship broke out from the storm clouds to the north, behind Kel. It flew quickly down towards the ground before pulling up and streaking towards the camp. Its blasters fired at the stormtrooper perimeter before it paused, hovering at the northern edge of the camp. Three’s hands curled into fists, and she reactivated her lightsaber. She tried assuming another battle stance, but the pain in her ribs caused her to break it instantly.

“See you next time, Three,” Kel snarked, smiling a victorious smile as he turned his lightsabers off and ran towards his ship. Three held her side and ran after him, ignoring the pain all she could. She paused, however, when she heard the shriek of TIE Fighters coming towards her. She looked at the Fighters, then at Andali’s ship, then growled before activating her commlink.

“Commandant, re-direct those fighters  _ and _ the ground troops, stop that transport at all costs!” She ordered.

“Acknowledged, ma’am, re-directing,” he replied.


	16. Escape

Anaxis and Zex gaped at the sight in front of them. A ship, a Kuati KT-4 transport, Anaxis recognized, had come out of  _ nowhere  _ and blasted through the troopers. It was hovering now in front of them, the boarding ramp descending to admit them. A Bothan female was visible in the loading bay, her mane billowing in the stirring wind, a blaster rifle in her grip.

“Both of you, on board, double time!” She barked. The two of them didn’t need any more invitation, and pushed their crates towards the ship. Blaster fire started erupting around them, and Anaxis looked over and saw more stormtroopers running towards them, firing away. He focused forward, and shoved his crate onto the ship. He turned and saw Zex had done the same - they had both made it safely aboard.

“Where’s Kel?” The Bothan asked, firing at the incoming troopers. “He told us to meet him at the northern perimeter!”

“He’s in a fight!” Anaxis reported. “He told us to meet you here!”

“A fight? With who?” The Bothan demanded to know.

“This woman with a lightsaber!” Zex shouted. “Came out of nowhere!”

“Three? Three’s here?” The Bothan asked, incredulous. “Unbelievable!”

“Look alive, everyone!” A voice over the ship’s PA system shouted, “we’ve got TIE fighters inbound!”

“Look! It’s Kel!” Zex shouted. Anaxis looked over, and saw Kel rushing towards the ship, his off-white clothes stained with brown dirt. He looked unharmed. He activated a lightsaber and deflected a few blaster bolts, backing up onto the ship as he and the Bothan delayed the stormtroopers.

“Kane, I’m aboard, get us out of here!” Kel shouted. The boarding ramp closed up, and the ship lurched as it shot away from the camp. Kel approached the two boys.

“Both of you, with me,” he ordered. He led them up a ladder to the top deck, then opened the foreward door. He brought them into the cockpit, where a woman wearing a ripped up duster jacket and a wide-brimmed hat sat in the pilot’s seat. She was taking them skyward into the storm clouds.

“I’m counting six fighters on the scope moving to intercept,” the pilot reported. “We’re going to need cover fire.”

“Copy that,” Kel replied, picking up the microphone for the speaker system. “Everybody to their stations, we’ve got six inbound, fire at will,” he commanded. “Kane, meet Anaxis and Zex. Both of you, stay here in the cockpit, and do whatever Kane asks,” he told them before disappearing through the doorway.

“You’re Kel’s new wards, eh?” she asked. “Kane Fel’dar, good to meet you,” she greeted as she yanked the controls around, taking evasive action. “I’d chat more but as you can see,” she paused as the ship rocked a bit, “I’m a little bit preoccupied!”

“I can co-pilot for you, I’ve trained in a KT-4 simulator for my pilot’s license,” Anaxis offered.

“Well  _ damn _ , can Kel pick ‘em!” Kane exclaimed. “Sit yourself down, kid, time for a crash course!”

Anaxis sat at the co-pilot’s chair, looking over the controls. He had spent more time simulating the  _ pilot’s _ chair, but he perfectly comfortable sitting in  _ any  _ chair.

“You know what all you’ve got there?” She asked him.

“Navigation and astrogation on the left of the terminal, long-range telemetrics along the right, torpedo targeting system along the bottom,” he listed off.

“A freakin’ plus, kid,” Kane remarked. “Think you can put those torpedo’s to use? They’ve been gathering dust for a long time now,’ she suggested.

“Let’s see what I can do…” Anaxis smirked. He might’ve been frightened before, running from troopers and facing down lightsabers, but this was his element. This was all he had wanted to do for years now.

He opened up the targeting system, and the terminal showed him the torpedo display. They had thirty torpedoes loaded in two bays, on either side of the ship. A single torpedo had an operational range of five hundred linear yards, and an effective range of three hundred radial yards - the first was how far it could go before running out of fuel and self-detonating, the second was how far away it got before you couldn’t control it anymore. He checked the short-range scanner, and saw the TIE fighters scrambled around their stern. He primed a torpedo, and launched it.

The monitor switched to a camera view showing the torpedo’s point of view, with arrows and boxes indicating where the hostile fighters were. He gently nudged the torpedo around, targeting one of the fighters and locking on. He engaged the boost on the projectile, and watched it blast ahead towards the TIE.

Which rolled out of the way at the last second. The camera feed cut a little bit after, and a little ‘MISS’ notification appeared in a corner as it switched back to the torpedo overview screen.

“He saw it coming,” Zex observed, watching from over Anaxis’ shoulder. “Try hitting them where they can’t see it coming,” he suggested.

“I think I know how to co-pilot, Zex,” Anaxis snapped. Suddenly, the ship rocked again. Anaxis looked up, and saw that they were now inside of the storm cloud, with lightning striking all around them. A red light was flashing on the pilot’s console.

“We got hit by an ion pulse, I think it was lightning,” Kane reported. “Starboard ion engines need recalibrating!”

“I’m on it!” Zex shouted, rushing out of the cockpit.

“Does he know what he’s doing?” Kane asked Anaxis urgently. “Cause if he gets this ship blown up I’m gonna kill him.”

“He’s worked on and off at a shipwright’s garage for years, he knows what he’s doing,” Anaxis promised, launching another torpedo. He looked over and saw one TIE fall off the radar.

“One down!” Someone shouted over the comms. It sounded like the Bothan.

“Kane, I see we’re not in orbit yet,” Kel’s voice called over the comms.

“One of the new kids is fixing up the engines, can’t go orbital until he does,” Kane reported. Suddenly, though, the light stopped flashing.

“I think that should do it!” Zex’s voice shouted over the comms.

“Stars and moons above, and when Kel said he was bringing teenagers aboard I was preparing for body odor and empty brains,” Kane muttered. “Hold on tight, we’re moving out!”

Kane thrusted the controls, and the ship lurched ahead at higher speeds, yawing upwards as clouds ripped away from them to reveal pale sky, which eventually faded into empty space. Anaxis swore as his second torpedo missed again. A second TIE fell off the radar.

“Two TIEs eliminated,” a digitized voice reported.

“That’s good enough for me! Preparing for hyperspace!” Kane shouted back. “Kid, punch us in some coordinates,” she ordered.

“Coordinates to where?” He asked. He didn’t exactly have a list of safe havens.

“Kel said our next stop is Dantooine, how about there?” She suggested forcefully, yanking the ship out of blaster fire.

Anaxis opened the astrogation charts and searched for Dantooine. It was a world in the far Outer Rim, far away from Maran. He inserted the coordinates, and allowed the navicomputer to start crunching the calculations.

“Coordinates set, calculating,” Anaxis reported. The door opened, and Zex walked back in, before pausing at the sight before him.

“Nax… we’re in space…” he whispered quietly. Anaxis looked over at him, and the back out the viewport. More stars than he could count glittered all around them, and as Kane pulled them here and there to avoid being hit, it only showed even more stars. Anaxis paused, and took it in. He had been training in simulators for years, planning and hoping and wishing to get to this point. How many hours had he spent staring at virtual stars? And now, looking at the real deal, he wondered how anyone could ever settle for the knock-offs.

“Yeah…” he mumbled back in awe. “We are…”

“First time off world?” Kane asked, amused by the two boys, even as she was in the middle of avoiding Imperial fire.

“Yeah… we’ve been waiting to get here for years…” Zex responded.

“Any time you’re ready to jump, feel free, Kane!” The Bothan shouted over the comms. The co-pilot’s terminal blinked that the calculations were complete.

“You want to see it  _ really _ come to life?” Kane asked the boys, smiling. “Watch this,” she said, before leaning into the comms system. “Jumping to hyperspace,” she alerted, before pulling back the lever at her side that controlled the hyperdrive. The stars warped all around them, and suddenly ripped apart as they darted into the blue swirls of hyperspace. Anaxis took in some air out of awe, and Zex’s eyes widened as they experienced their first jump to lightspeed. Kane leaned back in her chair, smiling.

“Yeah, it always gets me, too.”


	17. Reassignment

The Third Sister stormed into the command center of the Imperial Complex, her rage dulling the pain, where the Commandant awaited in front of the holo-projector in the middle of the room as other, lesser officers carried about their business. Her face was obscured by her helmet still, but everybody could feel the intensity of her emotions. She approached the Commandant, who stood rigidly at attention.

“Report,” she demanded simply.

“Our fighters pursued the ship through cloud cover into outer orbit. They were not able to intercept it before it jumped to lightspeed. System scans are in progress, but thus far it appears that they have left the system.”

“Commandant, repeat to me what my orders to you were,” she requested. The Commandant paused for a moment.

“To intercept the transport, ma’am,” he repeated. She took  a step closer.

“At all costs, Commandant,” she corrected. “To intercept the transport,  _ at all costs _ . Instead, you allowed a stroke of luck two years in the making to go to waste, and a dangerous criminal to escape my clutches. I should have you stripped of your rank for incompetency.”

“I… I’m sorry, ma’am, we just didn’t have the resources needed, no plan, no preparation, we did all we could,” the Commandant stammered. The Third Sister merely waved a dismissive hand.

“Get out of my sight, before I lose my patience with you. I must make my report,” she stated. The Commandant bowed slightly.

“I have already taken the liberty of passing a preliminary post-action report to your superior,” he relayed as he made his way out of her sight. Her hands curled into fists - that wasn’t what she had wanted to hear. It was too late, though - she was being patched through to her master. His visage appeared in hologram before her, his eyes piercing her.

“Third Sister. I understand your routine dispatch took a markedly non-routine turn,” he noted.

“Grand Inquisitor,” she greeted with respectful nod. “I encountered the Jedi fugitive, Kel Andali, and engaged him.”

“Hm, yes, so I had read,” the Grand Inquisitor remarked boredly, “and then allowed him to slip from your grasp, I understand.”

“It was a result of the incompetence of the local command structure, my master,” she defended.

“Yes, and was it also their fault that Kel Andali escape with not one, but  _ two _ Force sensitives? Or should you like to blame that on planetary weather patterns?” He questioned harshly.

“I  _ had _ him, master,” she swore.

“No,” the Grand Inquisitor corrected, “if you had ‘had’ him, he would be dead, and the Force sensitives would be in the midst of being processed for candidacy as Inquisitors. Instead, he has once more escaped the eyes of the Empire for places unknown to reorganize and resume his insurgent activities, this time with  _ apprentices _ ,” he chastised. The Third Sister grimaced under her visor. The Grand Inquisitor could tell.

“I will  _ find _ him, my master,” she swore.

“No, you will not,” the Grand Inquisitor stated. “You will return to our headquarters, where you will await reassignment.”

“Reassign… but, master -” she tried to argue. He cut her off swiftly.

“Third Sister,” he said, “I have permitted you to pursue Kel Andali all these years in the belief that your lust for vengeance would give you the strength to destroy him. Instead, you have disappointed me  _ thrice _ now, and each time you have done nothing but inspire Andali to escalate his resistance against the Empire. It is evident that another will have to continue the search for him while you spend your time in an alternative pursuit.”

“Such as  _ what _ , may I ask?” She inquired, more viciously than was her place. The Grand Inquisitor smiled.

“Perhaps training an apprentice would serve you well,” he suggested. “The boy you secured - bring him with you to our headquarters.  _ You _ will be responsible for his training.”

“I am  _ above _ such trivia!” She protested. To be saddled with bringing up an initiate, when she was so close to her goal - the  _ indignity _ .

“Evidently you are not,” the Grand Inquisitor contradicted with a cold, cruel smile. “That will be all.”

With that, the Grand Inquisitor’s feed cut out, and the Third Sister was left to roil in her wrath. She turned, and stormed back out of the command center, humiliated and enraged. The Commandant was waiting outside for her.

“Prepare my shuttle,” she ordered fiercely, walking past him as he remained still. “And bring the Egdoin boy here. He is to be officially conscripted by the Imperial military. Resistance will be met with arrests.”

“Conscripted by whose orders, ma’am?” He inquired. She paused and turned towards him.

“Darth Vader’s.” She stated plainly. The Commandant stared at her, waiting for her to give a serious answer. In short order, he realized she wasn’t joking.

“...Y-yes, ma’am,” he stuttered out, entering the command center to make the arrangements. As she continued on her way, the Third Sister consoled herself with one pleasant thought: even if she could not sway her superiors, she could still terrify her subordinates.


	18. Q & A

Anaxis and Zex followed Kane into the common room of the ship, as per Kel’s request over the comms. It was just across the access corridor that connected the top and bottom decks, on the opposite side of the cockpit, so it was a quick walk. There was a holo-projector in the middle of the rectangular space, a storage compartment in one corner, a small medbay in another, the access lift to the exterior in the third corner, and a lounge in the fourth corner, which comprised of a spacious and cushy looking couch which Kane plopped onto. 

She tossed her hat onto the dejarik table the couch enveloped, and planted her boots up onto it, leaning back as if they hadn’t just escaped an Imperial fighter squadron. Her short hair was messy and red, and Anaxis noticed for the first time that one of her arms was robotic.

“So,” she said as Anaxis and Zex stood by, “how much do you two know about our whole operation?”

“Very little,” Kel answered as he walked in through one of the corridors. “And I intend to fix that, like I promised.”

“First things first,” Kane interrupted, “if they’re sticking around, they’re going to need proper introductions.”

“Introductions?” Zex asked.

“Sticking around?” Anaxis added.

“So they’re sticking around?” Another voice asked. It was the Bothan woman, entering from another corridor. “We’re doing introductions, then?”

“Tzutuli, habagabini wooputunu oomanu?” A second, tinier voice asked. A small humanoid, up to Anaxis’ knees in height and wrapped in brown robes, walked into the room, accompanied by a tall black plated droid, which appeared to be a modified K-series - a popular Imperial model.

“Sli would like to know what the situation regarding the two human newcomers is,” the droid announced. “I second her curiosity.”

“Well, since we’re all here, I suppose we can get to it,” Kel decided, taking a seat on the couch opposite of Kane. “I promised I’d answer your questions, so why don’t we start with that? What do  _ you _ two want to know?”

“Who exactly are you?” Anaxis asked. “And why were you following me around yesterday?”

“And why did you never tell me you were a  _ Jedi _ ?” Zex added.

“My name, as you’ve probably picked up, is Kel Andali,” he started. “And I’m  _ not _ a Jedi. I was following you, Anaxis, because I had a… premonition, warning me about the events of today. I wanted to get to know you, see what was special about you, before I tried to make any moves to protect you - and when I saw your agility trial, I knew that it was only a matter of time before the Empire came looking for you.”

“What do you mean, ‘what’s special about me’? Why would the Empire come looking for me? Why did all those troopers chase me?” Anaxis demanded to know. He had effectively been run off of his homeworld, and he wanted to know what it was for.

“It very quickly became about  _ both  _ of you, you know,” Kel clarified. “I want to make that clear right away.”

“What do you mean, both of us?” Zex asked. “There’s something special about both of us?”

“Yes, there is,” Kel said, smiling a bit as he leaned onto the table more. “What do the two of you know about the Force?” He asked innocently.

“Not much, just that it was some Jedi thing, some sort of magic,” Zex answered.

“The Jedi thought it was some kind of all-powerful energy that they could control,” Anaxes added. “It was a myth the Republic kept around to keep people respecting the Jedi, to keep systems in line.”

Kel, and the rest of the crew, laughed at that a bit. “That’s what they’re teaching at the academies, is it?” The Bothan asked.

“History’s written by the conquerors, Nan,” Kane pointed out with a sad smile.

“The Force,” Kel started, leaning back as if settling in for a long lecture, “is an energy field created by living beings. It surrounds… well, everything. It’s everywhere, and it connects all of us together. Some people are especially sensitive to it, and these people have the capacity to do incredible things by drawing from its power and learning about its nature.”

“Wait, so… it’s real?” Zex asked, stepping forward. “It’s really real?”

The Bothan snorted. “I said the same thing, when I first met Kel.”

Kel smiled. “It’s as real as your vision, Zex, and your ability to connect to others. As well as your reflexes, Anaxis,” he explained. “You both have a strong connection to the Force, and you unconsciously draw from it to achieve feats other people can only dream of.”

“I don’t believe it,” Zex said. “The Force is real? And I’m… I’m connected to it?”

“We all are,” Kane corrected, “but you’re one of the lucky few who can make anything out of it.”

“I don’t think I believe it,” Anaxis admitted. “How do you know we’re not just really good at what we do? Why does the Force have to be involved?”

“Because I can sense it in the both of you,” Kel explained. “Just like Three did.”

“Three?” Anaxis asked.

“That woman with the lightsaber, right?” Zex figured. “Who was she?”

“And why was she on Maran, while we’re at it?” The Bothan asked.

“To answer your question, Zex,” Kel opened, “Three is an Imperial Inquisitor - the Third Sister of the Inquisitorius. They’re a group of elite assassins, trained in lightsaber combat and in the Force, and their mission is to hunt down and destroy any surviving Jedi, as well as locate and recruit other Force sensitives into their ranks. That’s why she was there,” he went on, looking to the Bothan. “The Inquisitors were told about gifted youngsters, and she must’ve been the one they sent to pick them up.”

“Wait… Ophi and Malach and I, the agility trials…?” Anaxis started to figure it out. “She came for  _ us _ ?”

Kel nodded solemnly. “The Empire keeps an eye out for unusual talent. Supernatural marksmanship, extraordinary reflexes, innate precognition, strong empathy… anything that indicates Force sensitivity.”

“But the Empire always makes it sound like the Jedi are all dead,” Anaxis contradicted. “They teach us that the Force is just a myth.”

“That’s what they  _ teach _ you, but it’s not what they believe,” Kel explained. “The highest echelons of the Imperial government know that the Force is very much real. And those who were alive to see them know that the Jedi were no mere tricksters. I think most people, on some level, don’t really believe they’re all completely gone.”

Anaxis thought of Plades, and how he had spoken about the Jedi in present tense, as if they weren’t as extinct as he was saying. “I guess you’re right… but there’s still so few left, why does the Empire care?”

“They know that even a single Jedi poses a threat to them,” The Bothan answered.

“Even a single Jedi could start up a new order, or at least spark rebellion against the Empire, and they’re not too big on that idea,” Kane added.

“So is that what you’re doing?” Zex questioned, looking at Kel. “Trying to… I don’t know, restart the Jedi?”

“No,” Kel said. “Like I told you, I haven’t been a Jedi for a long time. I’m not looking to resurrect their Order. But I  _ am _ trying to honor the best of its legacy, and strike back against the Empire however I can.”

“That’s where the ‘I’ becomes ‘we’,” Kane interrupted. “We’re all here because we have a bone to pick with the Empire.”

“So… you’re rebels?” Anaxis asked cautiously. The answer seemed pretty obvious to him once he asked, though.

“Rebels, insurgents, pirates, terrorists, we’ve got a whole slew of names the Empire likes to tag onto us,” Kane joked, leaning back in her seat and putting her hands behind her head in a relaxed gesture. It seemed she was fond of all the different labels.

“I’m sort of a rebel, myself,” Zex bragged, “I’ve been pestering the Empire since I was eleven years old.”

“Yes,” Kel said with an amused smile, “I recall you mentioning that. It’s part of the reason I developed such an interest in you. You have the attitude we look for.”

“So, what,” Anaxis interrupted, “we’re just being volunteered to join your crew? We don’t get a say in it?” He asked pointedly.

“Well, of course you get a say in it,” Kane assured, “we’re not  _ slavers _ . But we could use someone with your piloting skills.”

“And your tech skills,” the Bothan said to Zex. “Sli’s never fixed anything that fast, and we could use another mechanic on board.”

“Zubutanini habiluchu khrabana!” The smaller humanoid jibbered.

“We know you’re busy on the top turret,” the droid responded, “which is why we want a mechanic who  _ wouldn’t _ be busy.”

Zex was beaming at what he was hearing. “Helping a bunch of renegades kick Imperial ass and work on a ship all day? That’s like, my  _ dream _ !” He exclaimed. Anaxis cleared his throat loudly. Zex looked at him and smiled apologetically. “I mean, it’s  _ a _ dream,” he corrected.

“I’m not so sure…” Anaxis said.

“I understand your dream was to get away from your homeworld and see what the rest of the galaxy has to offer,” Kel mentioned. “We might stop on a world for months at a time, but we’re always busy.”

“And believe me, kid,” Kane piped up, “even being on a single world for a year or two has more adventure than cruising the starlanes for a decade.”

“I just… I don’t know…” Anaxis resisted weakly. “I didn’t exactly envision Zex and I being…  _ insurgents _ …”

“Did you ever envision being Force sensitive?” Kel asked.

“Or being chased by an Inquisitor?” The Bothan added.

“Or co-piloting one of the Empire’s most wanted starships?” Kane threw in.

“Naxy,” Zex said quietly, moving closer to Anaxis for some degree of privacy, “this is  _ better  _ than what we planned. We can  _ do something _ with these people! What’s holding you back?”

“I…” Anaxis trailed off. What  _ was _ holding him back? He was never a fan of the Empire, his best friend had lived half his life in a slum that was created because of the Empire, the Empire ran him off his homeworld, his mother tried to crush his dream in the name of the Empire…

Anaxis sighed. That was the problem.

“My mother,” he said quietly. “I feel like I’m letting down my mother.”

The crew fell silent at that, not sure what to say. Even Kel had to pause. Zex looked crushed.

“After everything that’s happened, you’re still trying to impress her,” Zex realized.

“Zex, I -”

“She tried to throw us in  _ jail _ , Nax!” Zex shouted. “She tried to take our dream away from us! She tried to take you from  _ me _ !” He reminded. “She has done nothing but  _ hurt _ you, and you’re  _ still _ trying to make her proud?!?”

“Zex,” Kel said firmly. “You’ve made your point.”

“Don’t tell me whether or not I’ve made my point!” Zex snapped at him. He turned back to Anaxis, his face flushed red. “ _ I’m _ sticking around with these guys, and if  _ you _ want to go back home and make mommy dearest proud by turning yourself in,  _ go ahead _ !”

The room fell silent again. Even the droid looked stunned by what just happened. After a moment, Kane put her boots down and shifted like she was about to get up and mediate, but Kel held a hand up. She paused at the gesture, and saw that he was staring at the boys intently. This was a test, she realized. He wanted to see what they would do. This was something  _ they _ had to work out, by themselves, even if it had to be in front of the whole crew.

“I’m sorry, Zex…” Anaxis mumbled, his head hung low.

“Yeah, you  _ should _ be,” Zex grumbled.

“My mother gave up a lot for me…” Anaxis continued. “She reminded me of that every day. It’s hard to stop thinking about things that way. She taught me to pay back what I owed, and for years, that meant paying  _ her _ back… but right now…” he paused, turning to look at Kel. “Right now I owe my life to somebody else,” he turned to face Zex again, “and I owe you my everything.”

“So… you’re going to stay?” Zex asked, his face softening. Anaxis smiled and laughed.

“Yes, Zex, I’m going to stay.” He confirmed.

“Excellent,” Kel declared, his face breaking into a smile. The atmosphere of the whole room felt lighter. “As the newest members of our crew, I believe you’re owed some introductions!” He declared, turning to Kane. “Kane, I started first when Sli and H2 joined us, so why don’t you go first?”

“It’d be my pleasure,” Kane said with a smile, sticking her boots back onto the dejarik table. “If you forgot it in the excitement, the name’s Kane Fel’dar. I’ve been piloting the  _ Beggar _ for the past four years. I met Kel on Corellia, while he was giving the  _ Beggar _ some upgrades. We were both wanted, he needed a pilot, I needed a ship, it was a natural partnership. We’ve been flying and fighting together ever since,” she finished with a smirk. She looked over at the Bothan, signaling it was her turn.

“I am Nan Ved’horo. I am our crew’s point of contact for our friends around the stars, and I keep my ear to the ground. I joined this crew on Bothawui, my home, three years ago, for much the same reason as you two have: necessity, and a thirst to bring  _ pain _ to the Empire,” she said with a satisfied smile.

“So, are you a spy?” Anaxis asked. It was a natural assumption to make about Bothans.

“I am not,” Nan corrected, smiling. “But everyone in my family is.”

“Nan’s got connections,” Kane added. “The Bothan Spynet is the best in the galaxy. She’s saved our lives with timely details and secrets ripped from who knows where plenty of times.”

“What about you two?” Zex asked, gesturing to the droid and humanoid. It was the droid who answered.

“I am H2-99, multipurpose droid,” he introduced. “I am programmed for proficiency in combat, linguistics, and technical interface. I am, with certain restrictions, capable of deceit, and can pose as a droid specifically designed for any particular purpose for sake of infiltration. My companion, and maker, is Sli Ihenek, a member of the Jawa people of Tatooine. Sli was taken by slavers, and I was taken as property to be sold. Eventually we both were liberated by Kel and the others 1.5 standard years ago. We have served out of gratitude, and a shared dislike for the Empire, ever since.”

“And you know me,” Kel stated simply. “Now let’s get to know you two.”

“Erm…” Anaxis stammered. Zex took the lead on this one.

“So, I’m Zex Karnagath, but just call me Zex,” he introduced. “Uh, I’ve been an orphan since I was eleven, I’ve been stealing and surviving on my own all that time. I’ve worked on a  _ lot _ of ships over the years,” he stated. “And… yeah,” he finished plainly, before looking over at Anaxis.

“I’m… Anaxis Fanexos. I’m a licensed pilot, I have…  _ almost  _ a civic degree… my dad was a pilot, so it’s kind of in my blood. And… yeah,” he finished, more weakly than Zex. Social interaction wasn’t exactly his strong suit. Despite his awkward introduction, everyone was smiling at him.

“Well, welcome aboard the  _ Hopeful Beggar _ , Anaxis and Zex,” Kane welcomed. “Glad to have you here.”

“Glad to be here,” Zex responded happily. 

“Kane, how long before we’re out of hyperspace?” Kel asked.

“Navicomputer’s estimations give us about half a standard day,” she answered. “What are we doing on a backwater like Dantooine anyway?”

“A few things to keep us busy for a few months. It’s mostly a chance for us to lay low and do some networking,” Kel explained, before turning to Anaxis and Zex. He leaned back and stroked his faint beard. “It’s also a good place for… training.”

“Training?” Anaxis asked. “What kind of training?”

“All kinds,” Kel said vaguely. “Lots of sky for flying, lots of ground for running, lots of wild animals for blasting, lots of sights to see. Interesting things.”

“It’s a grassworld in the middle of nowhere,” Kane pointed out. “How interesting can it be?”

“There’s a saying on Bothawui,” Nan interjected, “The greatest secrets are written on the smallest blade of grass.”

“Yeah, well, on Corellia, our favorite saying is ‘a pilot in the sky is never bored,’ so searching grass blades for secrets isn’t up my alley,” Kane joked, though Anaxis could tell some part of it was sincere dread.

“Regardless,” Kel said, standing up, “I need to rest. I’m sure our newest crewmates could do for some peace and quiet, too. Nan, would you mind showing them to their quarters? Give them Dorm 5.”

“What about Dorm 6?” Nan asked him as he started leaving the room.

“Leave it empty. I’m sure they don’t mind rooming together,” Kel said without turning, leaving through the port door. Zex and Anaxis looked at each other. They both blushed just a small shade. Sli said something to H2, then left through the starboard door.

“We’ll be in the lab,” H2 announced to nobody in particular, turning and following Sli.

Kane stood up now and stretched a little. “If anyone needs me, I’ll be napping in the cockpit,” she said, picking her hat back up and walking out. Nan looked to the two boys.

“Let’s get the two of you settled in, then,” she said. “Welcome to the crew.”

As she led the boys to the port side of the ship and into their new dorm room, Zex subtly reached a hand over and twined his fingers with Anaxis’. Anaxis looked at Zex, who looked back at him with a face that was happier and more at peace than any expression Anaxis had seen on Zex in years. The positivity radiated, and Anaxis couldn’t help but forget about his worries and reservations as he smiled back at Zex, their fingers locked together as they entered into this exciting new chapter of their lives together.

That was the most important thing to Anaxis: That they were together.


	19. Settling In

“That’s the last of it,” Zex declared, setting down the last personal item to finish the unpacking process. It was very quick for Anaxis’ possessions, considering he only had a single carry-on to worry about, but Zex practically had a small cargo compartment’s worth of possessions that Kel had packed. He had been considerately thorough; he even packed all the food Zex had stashed, and left it in Zex’s possession instead of putting in the cargo hold for everyone.

“So that’s it, then,” Anaxis said, sitting down on his bunk on one side of the room. “We’re officially members of an insurgent crew wanted by the Empire.”

“Nax, seriously, can’t you see the bright side of this?” Zex prodded, sitting down on his own bunk. “We’re rebels! We’re fighting back! We’re making a difference for people! That’s a lot better than just zooming around the starlanes carrying droid parts and hardware!”

“I know, I know,” Anaxis sighed. “I guess it’s all just happening so quickly. This morning I woke up happy it was the end of the week, now I’m happy to be alive,” he remarked. Zex smiled sweetly at him.

“Well, I’m happy you’re alive, too,” Zex joked, “and that I’m alive, and that even with all of today’s craziness, we’re still on the same ship.”

Anaxis smiled back. “I’m happy about that, too,” he said, “even if it  _ is _ somebody  _ else’s _ ship,” he playfully complained.

“Yeah, speaking of which,” Zex said, stadning up and walking towards the door, “I think I wanna go exploring. You wanna come with?” He asked.

“Maybe later,” Anaxis replied. “I kind of just want to rest right now, let things catch up with me better. Settle in.”

“Sure, that’s cool,” Zex stated. He walked up to the door, and paused before opening it. “Hey… Nax?” He asked.

“Yeah, Zex?”

“I was just thinking…” he said slowly, turning to face Anaxis. “We kind of kept things under wraps because of your mom, but… she’s out of the picture now, and these guys, I mean, Kel seemed to already know, and I don’t think any of them would really care, so…”

“You want to stop hiding,” Anaxis concluded with a smile. Zex blushed adorably. Anaxis stood up and walked over, wrapping his arms around Zex’s neck. “You already know I don’t like public displays of affection, so I’d rather not get  _ too _ carried away, but other than that…” he trailed off. “Sure, why not?”

Zex smiled more, that blustery smile that was all genuine and didn’t have his usual charm. No, this was  _ real _ charm, the charm he never let anyone see. It was big and sloppy and giggly, with his eyes all squinted like he was looking at the sun. He wrapped his arms around Anaxis’ waist and pulled him closer.

“You are my galaxy, Anaxis,” he whispered, pressing his forehead against Anaxis’.

“You are my stars and moons, Zex,” Anaxis whispered back, gently pushing Zex against the door and leaning into him.

Suddenly, a knock came at the door, causing the both of them to jump a bit. “Zex? It is H2. I would like to show you something.”

Anaxis pulled away, sighing with a smile at Zex, who smiled back before planting a small peck on his lips. “One day we’ll have a moment to ourselves,” he joked under his breath before turning around and opening the door. “What’s up, H2?” He asked, stepping out and walking with the droid, who started talking about something techy that Anaxis couldn’t follow.

Anaxis stepped out of the room, watching Zex and H2 walking away with a fond smile, which faded slowly. He turned around, and looked down the corridor lined with dormitories. He could feel the not-breeze - the Force, he guessed - flowing from the door with a ‘1’ printed on it. He walked towards it and stared at it for a moment. He lifted up a fist to knock, but the door swung upon before he even rapped on it. Inside was Kel, sitting cross-legged, his eyes closed.

“I sensed you’d want to talk more,” he said in greeting. “Come in.”

Anaxis did so, and the door closed behind him. He examined Kel. For the first time, he noticed the scar running up and down one of his eyes. He had changed out of his dirty off-white clothes into a practical outfit in shades of brown. He opened his eyes and regarded Anaxis.

“You and Zex are settling in well, I hope?” He asked. Anaxis nodded.

“We’re all unpacked and moved in. He’s really excited to be here, I haven’t seen him this hyped up in years,” Anaxis reported.

“And you, Anaxis?” He asked. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m… still trying to process everything,” he admitted. Kel nodded solemnly.

“It’s a lot to take in. I’m sorry this all had to come down on you so suddenly,” Kel apologized. “If you ever want to talk, or need help figuring things out, we’re all here for you. We may not look like much, but… we’re a family,” Kel told him. “We stick together.”

“I appreciate it,” Anaxis replied, if only out of courtesy. Kel stared at him for a moment.

“Tell me about your father, Anaxis,” he requested. Anaxis furrowed his brows in confusion.

“What?” He asked.

“Zex told me much about your mother while he was staying with me,” Kel said. “I want to know more about your father.”

Anaxis shrugged. “Not much to tell. I never knew him.”

“What do you know of him?” Kel asked.

“He was a pilot, I know that,” Anaxis said. “Mom met him on Anaxes, that’s why she named me after it. She fell in love with him because of how brave he was. Left home to go see the galaxy with him, but when she got pregnant and wanted to settle down, he left her on Maran and scrammed.”

“And now you’re worried you’ve done the same to your mother,” Kel observed. Anaxis was silent. Kel smiled. “Negative emotions like shame and guilt are very prominent in the Force. You’re burying them, but I can still feel them.”

“Or maybe you’re just making too many assumptions,” Anaxis stated dryly. He wasn’t interested in having a Jedi pretend to read his thoughts.

“I can tell your anger comes from hurt,” Kel stated. “Hurt that comes from hearing a hard truth. I can tell you don’t want to believe a word I say, about anything - about you, about myself, about the Force. You want to be able to run away from all of this,” Kel observed. 

Anaxis remained silent. He didn’t want to say anything. His choices were to either deny it and say that Kel was just being foolish - or to tell the truth.

“I can’t make you believe any of it,” Kel went on. “But I can give you reason to believe it, and hopefully that will help you be more at ease with everything.” he offered. Anaxis stared at him quietly. “Humor me, if nothing else.”

“Fine,” Anaxis conceded.

Kel looked over to the foot locker on the side of the room. It opened, and out from it hovered a small golden cube, with what looked like a blue gem set inside of it. It floated over to the space in front of Kel, before planting itself on the ground. Anaxis looked at it, then at Kel.

“OK… so you have a floating cube and a self-opening foot locker,” Anaxis hypothesized. Kel smiled.

“That wasn’t a display to convince you,” Kel said. “I’m going to show you how to use the Force. And then you can determine how real it is for yourself. Sit down, Anaxis.”

Anaxis glared at Kel skeptically. He sat down, deciding to continue humoring the man for now, until he dropped the subject.

“I want you to close your eyes, and visualize this artifact,” he instructed, gesturing to the cube. “Let it be the only thing you focus on.”

Anaxis obeyed, closing his eyes, and imagining the shape and color of the cube. He tried to focus on it, but he couldn’t help but think about how ridiculous this was.

“Now, quiet your mind, and visualize the cube opening itself to you. Imagine that it is a holobook, and open it up. There is knowledge inside; ask to see it,” Kel prompted.

Anaxis did as he was told. He started breathing slower out of instinct, and focused his mind. He thought of the cube, and tried to look inside of it. He could almost feel the inside of the cube, like a warmth, like the feel of a hologram on your fingertips but all over your body. He reached out for it, trying to reach inside of the cube, trying to reach its contents. He felt it ticking, like a mechanical lock being undone. He felt… happiness? But not his own, what would be happy about? He realized it wasn’t  _ his _ happiness, but Kel’s. What was  _ he _ happy about? Why was Anaxis feeling Kel’s emotions? There were too many questions, and Anaxis opened his eyes out of confusion.

The corners of the cube were turned, and it floated up into the air before its corners expanded outwards, and the gem erupted into a holographic display of what looked like a star chart. Anaxis looked at Kel through the hologram, and saw him smiling.

“Congratulations, Anaxis,” Kel said, “you just opened a holocron.”

Anaxis looked at the device. The star chart was unlike anything he had seen; it looked old, and it was formatted in a way he could understand but hadn’t seen before. Kel seemed to be analyzing it, as well.

“It’s unsurprising that you opened it to its star charts,” he explained. “You love exploration. When I first opened it, it went to the tutorials on lightsaber combat. I was a very eager youngling,” he chuckled.

“So it shows you what you want to know?” Anaxis asked, reading the star chart fully. It was a chart of the greater area that Maran found itself in, the area he was most familiar and interested in.

“It shows you what you ask to see, if it has it available,” Kel clarified. “It’s not a limitless repository of knowledge, but holocrons are extremely valuable for the information they  _ do _ have. But the reason they’re not usually on any black markets, is because they can only be accessed by someone who can use the Force,” he explained. Anaxis looked at him, understanding now.

“So… the fact that I opened this up myself means…  _ I _ used the Force,” he reasoned.

“Yes,” Kel confirmed simply. “And I know that you know that it’s true.”

Anaxis tried to fight it. Tried to say Kel had opened it himself, or that it was just some kind of trick. But he couldn’t bring himself to disbelieve Kel. He had felt how genuinely happy and pleased he was when the holocron opened. It didn’t feel deceitful. In fact, it felt almost relieved, like it was a long time coming.

“Fair enough, I guess,” Anaxis conceded. Kel smiled wider.

“You are not your father’s shame, Anaxis,” Kel affirmed. “Nor are you your mother’s property. You are Anaxis Fanexos, and you are whatever you choose to be. Nobody else gets to define you,” he assured. A moment passed, and he waved a hand, causing the holocron to close back up again, contracting back to the simple cube and landing on the ground. Anaxis looked from the holocron back to Kel.

“Why are we really going to Dantooine?” He asked suddenly. Kel smiled faintly.

“It really is to give us time to lay low and network,” Kel said, “I have friends there who can help us plan out our next steps. But,” he went on, “it’s also a very good training ground. My master brought me there once, and I learned a great deal about the Force. If you and Zex were going to join us, I wanted to bring you there. In case you were interested.”

“Interested… interested in… becoming Jedi?” Anaxis asked, taken off-guard.

“No,” Kel corrected. “You wouldn’t be learning to be Jedi. You’d learn  _ about _ the Jedi, if you asked about them. But all I would teach you is what I know of the Force, and there is much more to the Force than just being a Jedi.”

“When were you planning on telling us you wanted us to be your students?” Anaxis asked.

“Anaxis, you’re trying to paint me as some kind of manipulator,” Kel defended. “I left the Jedi Order because those are the kind of tactics  _ they _ would use. I have been nothing but honest with you,” he reminded. “I saved you, because you needed saving. I brought you onto this crew, because we could use you and because you wanted to see the rest of the galaxy. And now I am  _ offering _ to teach you, if you are interested. If you are not, that is your choice, but you only stand to gain by learning what I know.”

Anaxis thought about it, then sighed. “I… I guess. I mean, if the Empire’s going to send their Inquisitors after us, then I better be able to defend myself, right?” He reasoned. Kel nodded.

“That would be a wise objective,” he praised with a smile. “Now go on and catch up with Zex, you two ought to get a tour of the ship. Ask Kane, I’m sure she’d love something better to do than nap in the cockpit.”

Anaxis nodded, and stood up. He walked over to the door, and paused, turning to Kel one more time.

“Thanks. For what you said, about me not being my dad,” he expressed. Kel smiled at him again, before closing his eyes and resuming his meditation.

“I strive to be honest, Anaxis,” he said. “The galaxy needs more honesty.”

Anaxis nodded, opened the door, and walked out to find Zex.


	20. Initiation

The Egdoin family didn’t resist at all. When the troopers came, it was over quickly. They asked no questions, made no commotion. Merely told their son to go with the stormtroopers, obey their orders, serve his Empire, and make their family proud. The boy himself said nothing during the entire walk back to the Imperial Complex. He asked no questions, made no comments, no observations, nothing.

The Third Sister was intrigued.

She was waiting for him when he arrived. She stood in the middle of the large bay where the walkers and speeders and TIEs were. When he came walking in, she was the most prominent aspect of his vision. A few feet away from her, the troopers escorting him stopped, and he stopped. They stood there for a moment. She examined him. He merely stared back at her faceless helmet. She gestured silently for him to follow. He obeyed.

They walked through the halls of the Complex. Troopers and officers passed by, some of them chattering, some of them quiet. All of them glanced at the Inquisitor.

Finally, the Inquisitor stopped outside of a door. She turned to the boy.

“Do you know the purpose you have been chosen for?” She asked him.

“I suspect I am to join your organization, ma’am,” he replied simply.

“Do you know what my organization is?” She asked.

“I have only heard rumors.” He answered.

“And what rumors are those?” She asked.

“That you are the Empire’s improvement over the Jedi.”

“Do you believe that?”

“I have no reason to,” he said. “Just a gut feeling.”

“If you are admitted to our order,” she said, “you will learn that your gut feeling stems from a power you cannot currently conceive of.”

“And if I am not?” He asked.

“Then you will learn nothing,” she replied coldly.

He stood, staring silently at her for a moment.

“What must I do?” He asked quietly. 

She stared back, then turned and opened the door, leading him into the room. Inside was a man, bound, gagged, and blindfolded, kneeling down against the wall of the dim room. He looked up at the sound of entry.

“This man is an enemy of the Empire,” she declared. “He is to be executed.” 

She produced a blaster pistol and handed it to him. He stared at it, and looked at her. He looked back at the blaster, and took it.

“His crime?” He asked.

“Resisting Imperial authority,” she said. “That is all you need to know.”

Malach looked at the blaster again, then at the man. He walked up. He could see the lines of sweat pouring down the man’s face. He was breathing heavily. Whimpering, he could hear. Malach could almost feel the fear flowing off of the man like heat from a lantern. It felt strange to him. It felt dangerous. It felt exciting.

Malach looked back at the woman, who stood with her hands folded behind her back, watching. He looked back at the man. He placed a hand on the man’s face, felt the wetness, felt the heat. He pried the blindfold away. 

He saw the man’s eyes. 

Blue, like the sky. Wide. Afraid.

Malach felt his heart pounding in his chest. He realized his breath was hard and heavy. He stared into the man’s eyes. He slowly pressed the barrel of the pistol into the crook of the man’s neck.

Time passed. Pounding hearts. Heavy breaths. A bead of sweat rolled down the boy’s face. Father’s words echoed.

_ Obey their orders _ .

He held his breath.

_ Serve your Empire _ .

He pulled his finger back.

_ Make your family proud _ .

It was over in an instant. 

Malach restarted his breath. The man remained still, as if his body were still processing what had just happened, before falling to his side onto the floor. Malach turned slowly, forcing his breath to go through his nose and not his mouth. He stared at the woman, his face as hard and expressionless as he could make it.

“I sense much fear in you,” she said.

“Only the fear of disappointment,” he replied. He felt like she smiled under her helmet.

“I am the Third Sister of the Inquisitorius,” she introduced, walking up to Malach. “And henceforth, you will know me as ‘master’.”

“I will not disappoint you, master,” Malach promised, bowing his head in supplication. She laughed softly as she turned and beckoned him to follow her out of the room.

“No, you will not,” she said. “You are too afraid to disappoint.”


	21. Trouble over Dantooine

“Just an update,” the comms system sparked with Kane’s voice, “we’re going to be coming out of hyperspace soon. ETA one minute.”

Anaxis lurched out of bed, rubbing the grog from his eyes. Zex hopped off of his and set his holobook aside, dashing to the door and out of the dorm. Anaxis slowly rose up and stretched, and noticed Nan walk by their door, smiling down the hallway.

“He’s an excitable one, isn’t he?” She observed.

“Zex?” Anaxis asked, walking to the door now. “Yeah, he doesn’t like sitting still much. He wants to see us come out of hyperspace - it’s our first time seeing a world that isn’t Maran.”

“So then why aren’t you dashing up there with him?” She asked encouragingly with a smile. “It’s as much a special moment for you as it is for him - you should experience it together.”

“I’m heading up, too,” he defended, starting to walk with her towards the cockpit. “I just take my time more than Zex. It’s kept me out of trouble plenty of times,” he pointed out. Nan nodded at that with agreement.

“It’s certainly good to take your time, but you’ve only got so much time in the galaxy,” she advised. “Put it to good use.”

“Are you mothering him  _ already _ ?” Kane’s voice called out from the cockpit ahead. “Can you go a  _ day _ without adopting new kits into your litter?”

“I’ve gone a year and a half, I’m allowed two more,” Nan joked as they entered into the cockpit proper. The blue tunnel of hyperspace hadn’t changed since the last time Anaxis and Zex saw it when they came into the cockpit to ask for their tour to the ship. Kane was already fast asleep, but Nan showed them around the place herself. Now Zex was eagerly standing in the space between the pilot and co-pilot stations, staring at that tunnel intently. Anaxis walked over and took a seat on the co-pilot’s station.

“ETA 30 seconds,” Kane updated plainly.

“Let’s have medium-range scanners up when we arrive,” Kel’s voice requested. They all turned and saw him standing in the threshold, his expression somewhat anxious.

“You think there’s going to be something there?” Kane asked. “In orbit over sleepy, dreary Dantooine?”

“I’m not sure,” Kel said. “It’s just a precaution.”

“Well let’s hope it’s more exciting than grassfield and farmland,” Kane expressed, turning back to face forward.

“Just maybe not hope for anything  _ Imperial _ ,” Nan chided. Kane gave a dismissive hand gesture.

The next few seconds were spent in anxious prehension, everyone’s eyes on the viewport. Anaxis wondered where H2 and Sli were - Zex had told him they apparently spent all their time in the ship’s lab or in the garage, tinkering away at the available gear. What he meant by ‘tinkering’ wasn’t very clear, though.

Finally, the blue tunnel opened up, and was replaced by open space, with a large green and grey orb sitting in front of them. Anaxis’ eyes widened a bit, but Zex made audible gasp. Kane laughed a bit.

“It’s less exciting when you land, kid,” she forewarned. Kel cleared his throat, and she rolled her eyes with a smile. “Right, right, mid-range scanners, pulsing,” she announced as she pressed a few buttons.

“How far out do the mid-range scanners go?” Zex asked.

“They can cover a planetary system,” Anaxis answered. “They’ll pick up anything on this side of the planet. If there’s anything at all,” he added.

“Which, it looks like there isn’t,” Kane said, noting the empty monitor. “Should I head for a settlement, or just find a nice patch of grass to land on?” She sarcastically asked Kel. Kel remained silent for a moment, still staring out the viewport, his expression intensifying slightly as the seconds ticked. Suddenly, a blip appeared on the scope, and a beeping came up from the pilot’s console. Kane looked over at the comms, and smiled.

“Distress beacon,” she announced, before looking back at Kane, smiling widely.

“Open a channel,” he said, “you get your excitement after all, it seems,” he observed with a faint smile.

“Hopefully without a cost in lives,” Nan grumbled.

Kane excitedly pressed a button and leaned back to listen to the beacon.

“ _ This is civilian freighter Katunga’s Pride, we are under attack by pirate vessels! Repeat, we are under attack! Please, we’re carrying supplies vital to the Khoonda settlement!” _

Kane looked at Kel, who nodded before turning and climbing down out of the cockpit into the nose gun station, while Nan dashed out towards the aft section of the ship, probably to man the rear gun. Kane pressed a button to return the signal.

“ _ Katunga’s Pride, _ help is on the way! Hold on!” She shouted. She cut the comm channel, and leaned into the ship’s comm. “All hands to stations! All hands to stations!”

“Where’s our stations?” Zex asked, the excitement evident in his voice.

“You’re already at them,” Kane answered, lurching the ship into full speed and zooming them towards the source of the distress beacon. “Anaxis, think you can use the telemetrics to figure out who our new friends are and who’s bothering them?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Anaxis responded, activating the telemetrics and beginning to run diagnostics on the area around where the distress beacon was coming from, trying to get readings on energy signatures, transponder codes, ship profiles, anything that told them what was out there.

“What can I do?” Zex asked, eager to help.

“Something breaks, you fix it,” Kane told him. “Until something breaks or we ask for something, you’re on standby.”

“Copy that!” He said enthusiastically, leaning over with one hand on the empty dashboard between Kane and Anaxis and another on Anaxis’ chair. Anaxis quietly wondered how seriously he was taking this. Knowing Zex, probably not as seriously as Anaxis was.

“I’ve got something,” Anaxis said, locking onto energy signatures around the source of the distress beacon. “The ship’s a freighter alright, and the transponder codes check out, but…” he trailed off.

“But what, what is it?” Kane questioned urgently.

“I’m looking at four fuzzy ship profiles, but no other transponder codes and no energy signatures,” he reported. “These guys wouldn’t appear on anything other than high sensitivity short-range scanners. They’re ghosts,” he said.

“Some kind of stealth tech?” Zex asked.

“It’s not very good, but it seems like it,” Anaxis said.

“If you can get profile,” Kane noted, “then we can physically see them, and that’s good enough to shoot them down!”

In a few seconds, the battle became visible, and they rapidly approached it. Like Anaxis thought, there were four starfighters buzzing around a larger freighter ship, blasting at it. Its shields were still up, but who knew how long before those failed.

“Alert,” Kane said into the comms, “we have visual on enemy targets, prepare to engage! Anaxis,” she turned to him, “keep the telemetrics running and look out for similar ship profiles, keep the search prioritized on what we can see! I don’t want surprise reinforcements!”

“Got it!” Anaxis confirmed, tapping buttons to set the parameters he wanted. 

Suddenly, the ship started to rumble as the dogfight began. Kane shot them all over the place to keep them moving, and Anaxis sneaked a look up through the viewport to see all the red blaster fire going everywhere. He could barely tell what was coming towards them and what was going away from them, but it seemed like things were in their favor.

“One hostile down!” Nan reported. “What…  _ incoming!” _

The ship suddenly jolted and spun around, causing Zex to fall out of his chair before it returned to a stable position. Kane swore loudly as a small alarm started going off.

“That bastard crashed into us!!” She growled. “Shields are barely holding! Zex!” She shouted. Zex stood back up.

“What do you need?” He asked without skipping a beat.

“I need you to transfer non-essential power to the shields,” she ordered. “Anything that’s not weapons, life support, or engines!”

“Aye aye!” Zex shouted, dashing over to the console on the side of the cockpit to start typing commands into the system. He worked for a few seconds as the ship continued to veer and dodge.

“Zex, kid, hate to rush, but I need those shields  _ now _ !” Kane urged. Suddenly, Anaxis’ screen shut down, and he was left staring blankly at it before looking over at Zex, who smiled and looked back at Kane.

“Power re-routed, shields holding steady at 70% integrity!” He reported.

“ _ That’s what I like to hear! _ ” She cheered. Anaxis sighed slightly as he realized what happened and watched out the viewport. Another enemy fighter exploded in front of him - it was, admittedly, a really cool sight.

“Two badbad doodoo!” Sli reported. Apparently she knew a little Basic after all.

Through the viewport, Anaxis saw the other two fighters suddenly turn around and zip away, streaking off and making their retreat.

“Hostile fighters disengaging, should we pursue?” Kane asked.

“Negative,” Kel answered, “I want to talk to our new friends and help them land safely.”

“Copy that,” Kane replied, her mild disappointment showing. “Zex, go ahead and return to normal power distribution. And by the way, work on your timing,” she suggested with a smirk.

“Hey, not bad for my first time in a real fight,” he defended playfully.

“No, it wasn’t,” she said, before turning to Anaxis. “And you, my new favorite co-pilot, good work with those telemetrics.”

“It wasn’t much,” Anaxis stated humbly. “I just stared at the screen.”

“And gave us intel on the enemy,” Kel said, climbing up from the nose gun. “That’s important in a fight. We could’ve been flying into a mynock’s nest and never even known until it was too late.”

“Kel’s right,” Kane agreed. “I remember one smuggling run of mine -”

Kane’s story was interrupted by the beeping of the comm system. She opened the channel immediately, in time for H2 and Sli to walk in, Nan behind them.

“This is  _ Katunga’s Pride _ , thank you, strangers! We thought we were goners!” the other ship’s captain thanked.

“Not a problem,  _ Katunga’s Pride _ ,” Kane replied, “any idea who those pirates were and why they’re attacking supply runs way out here?”

The other captain chuckled. “You must be new to this system,” he observed. “If you’re looking to know, you come with us to Khoonda so that we’re not sitting in a shot up bucket in a vacuum, and we’ll catch you up.”

Kane looked over at the rest of the crew. Sli shrugged, which was awkwardly mimicked by H2. Nan and Kel both nodded. Zex gave a thumbs up. She looked at Anaxis. He thought for a moment, then gave a half-hearted nod.

“Sounds good to us,  _ Katunga _ ,” Kane said. “Lead the way.”


	22. Code 5

The flight down to Dantooine’s surface was, for Zex and Anaxis, one of the most aesthetically pleasing moments in their lives. They came through some light cloud cover in the mid-atmosphere, before piercing through the encompassing whiteness to see the wide, open fields of various shades of green. Anaxis and Zex leaned over the dashboard to take in the sight more fully as Kane brought them coasting through the skies.

“This place is beautiful…” Zex mumbled.

“Yeah… I never knew there were so many different kinds of green…” Anaxis responded. Kane chuckled a little under her breath, and mumbled something Anaxis couldn’t hear. Probably a complaint about Dantooine being boring.

“So Kel,” Kane said, “what do we know about Dantooine? Any pirate bases or criminal underworld?”

“Absolutely none,” Kel replied. “I honestly can’t imagine what criminals would want here. The people aren’t very rich, there’s no rare commodities to speak of, no important trade lanes, nothing. I suppose they’re easy targets, but it’d take some especially lazy pirates to go after farmers.”

“Maybe they’re just that lazy,” Nan supposed. “With the Empire cracking down, they might’ve lowered their standards.”

“Can’t be,” Kane said, “their tech is too good. They could slip by most Imperial escorts or orbital garrisons with the stealth they have.”

“So they’re professionals,” Kel concluded. He turned to Sli and H2. “What do we know about their stealth drives?”

“They’re either very cheap, damaged, or poorly made,” H2 reported. “Our current standing hypothesis is that they are standard stealth drives, but have been rigged to run without stygium crystals.”

“Stygium crystals?” Zex asked.

“They’re what makes a stealthed ship go completely dark,” Anaxis answered. “No stygium, no cloak. But I thought stealth drives were powered by them, how can they run without a power source?”

“It is possible they have found an alternative power source,” H2 posited. “Not as effective as stygium, but still functional.”

“It’d explain why their physical profiles were hazy on the telemetrics,” Kane pointed out. “The scanner waves couldn’t completely read them.”

“But why go on raids with low-grade cloaking?” Nan asked.

“The better question is, why Dantooine?” Kel corrected.

“Well, maybe we’ll get some answers,” Kane said, “the Khoonda settlement’s just up ahead. I’m taking us into land on the pad next to our new pals.”

“Khoonda’s the administrative capital of Dantooine,” Kel said, “if there’s any answers to be found, we’ll find them there.”

At that point, the comms system started beeping. Kane reached over and opened the channel up.

“ _This is Khoonda Flight Control to unidentified freighter, please identify yourself and state your business,”_ a woman’s voice requested. Kel leaned forward and answered.

“Khoonda, we are a Code 5 visit, our call is ‘Surik’, all discretions are requested,” he stated. Kane gave him a confused glance.

“ _Please stand by,_ ” the flight controller requested. A few seconds passed. “ _Code 5, you are permitted to land on Pad 2. The Administrator will be out to meet you shortly.”_

“Thank you, Khoonda,” Kel replied, leaning away from the comms. Kane turned to look at him.

“So, what, you’re an honored guest or something?” She asked.

“I’ve been here before,” was all Kel said before turning and walking out of the cockpit. Once the door was closed, Kane groaned audibly as she returned her focus to flying.

“So I guess we’re not the only ones Kel’s hidden things from,” Anaxis observed.

“He makes such a big deal about how he’s not a Jedi, but he definitely acts like one sometimes,” she complained. “He keeps too many secrets. Or at least, he doesn’t talk enough. Feels like he keeps everyone at arm’s length.”

“I wonder why that is…” Zex queried.

“It’s a wise move, for someone in his position,” Nan said. “He’s one of the Empire’s most wanted criminals. Getting too close to somebody could be dangerous for him.”

“For a Bothan who hates how shady Bothans are, you’re sounding like a real Bothan right now, Nan,” Kane complained. Nan shot her a glare.

“I’m not defending the decision, just explaining it,” was all she said in response. “I’m going to the loading bay,” she declared to nobody in particular before exiting the cockpit.

“We’ll accompany you,” H2 stated as he and Sli followed her out. Zex looked over at Anaxis, who glanced back at him.

“Go ahead and head down there, Zex, I’ll be there in a second,” Anaxis instructed.

“Alright,” Zex replied. He leaned down for a moment, then hesitated, pulled back a little, then tried again, but ultimately just awkwardly cleared his throat and walked out of the cockpit. Kane was staring blankly ahead, bringing the ship groundwards towards the small little settlement.

“What’s on your mind, kid?” Kane asked suddenly, not changing her expression or posture.

“Huh?” Anaxis asked.

“We just met not even a standard day ago, and you made a point to send your best friend away, leaving the two of us alone,” she pointed out. “That’s a pretty big sign that there’s something on your mind that you wanna talk to me, specifically, about. So what’s up?” She asked again.

“I’m your co-pilot, being in the cockpit is my job,” Anaxis replied. Kane sighed and looked at him.

“Kid, I’m not a Jedi or anything, but I know you’re bullshitting me,” she stated. “Just be straight and tell me what’s up.”

“...I don’t know how much I trust Kel,” Anaxis admitted. He didn’t see much use in trying to hide it. “I mean, I don’t expect him to backstab me or Zex or any of us, really, but I don’t…” he trailed off, not sure how to find the words.

“You trust him, but it feels like he doesn’t trust you,” Kane stated. It sounded like a rehearsed line with how bored she sounded while saying it.

“...Yeah, that’s a way of wording it,” Anaxis said. “Zex was with him for weeks, and he never even learned his _name_ , let alone the fact that he was a _Jedi_. Then he wouldn’t even be honest with us about bringing us here so that he could train Zex and I. It feels like -”

“Like he only tells you the plan when you need to know it, and only as much as you need to know for the time being,” Kane finished. “Trust me, kid, you’re not the only one.”

“How do you deal with it?” Anaxis asked. Kane sighed.

“I remember that at the end of the day, I _do_ trust him. With my life, even,” she explained. “I trust that he knows what he’s doing. And I trust that if he hides things from us, it’s for a good reason. Plus, even if it’s been fourteen years since he was a Jedi, they raised him. It’s hard to shrug off all the secrecy and cryptics when you were brought up with them.”

“Doesn’t mean he can’t try,” Anaxis pointed out. Kane chuckled.

“Trust me, I’ve told him that. Listen,” she said, as she brought the ship in for the landing run, “it’s a flaw of his, but in order for this whole operation to run, we’ve got to remember to look past each other’s flaws. So don’t let him get away with it, but don’t let it drive a wedge between you guys. Otherwise, we’re all going to fall apart,” she implored.

“Yeah, yeah, right…” Anaxis sighed. The ship slowly floated downwards, and landed on the ground soundly. “Thanks, Kane.”

“Anytime, kid,” she replied. “I’ve got an open door policy, remember that.”

“I will,” Anaxis promised. “Anyway, we should catch up with everyone else,” he said, rising from his chair. Kane rose from hers as well, and followed him out of the cockpit to head towards the loading bay.


	23. Welcome Party

Khoonda’s air was chilly and dry, and Anaxis immediately regretted the fact that he didn’t pack any heavier clothing. He had no idea how much money the  _ Beggar’s _ crew had between them all, and he didn’t have many credits left for himself. He stood in the chilly cold of the landing pad, waiting with the rest of the crew for this Administrator to appear, his eyes squinting a bit against the beams of sunlight that shone directly into them.

“Here,” he heard Zex say as he felt something slide over his shoulders. “You look cold.”

Anaxis looked down at his shoulders, and saw Zex’ hands placing his dark jacket onto him. The familiar faint scent of metal and dirt filled his nostrils, reminding him of all the moments of intimacy the two had shared on Maran. He started to pull the jacket more securely on, when he saw that Zex was left in a sleeveless shirt without it.

“Zex, no, I’ve at least got sleeves,” Anaxis argued.

“Shut up and wear the jacket,” Zex ordered playfully. “I’ve been through worse.”

Before Anaxis could speak up in further resistance, the doors leading out of the landing pad and into the larger settlement opened up, and revealed a woman in a very plain business outfit, escorted by four guards who looked like their armor could use a good polishing. They approached the  _ Beggar _ , their expressions hardened and serious. Kel walked towards them, smiling.

“Kel Andali,” the woman greeted. “The moment I heard that a Code 5 was inbound, I nearly had a heart attack,” she stated plainly. “Your timing is fortuitous, as I’m sure you’ve gathered from your skirmish in orbit.”

“Yes, we were just happy to be of service to the people of Dantooine,” Kel said, “but I sense that Dantooine’s in need of more than a few exploded pirates.”

“Your Jedi perceptions have yet to fail you,” the Administrator observed, not losing her business-like atmosphere.

“Just perceptions, Madam Administrator,” Kel corrected politely.

“Of course,” she half-heartedly agreed, before looking over to see the rest of the crew. “You have attracted quite the motley crew, Mr. Andali,” she remarked.

“Yes, it’s been an exciting six years,” Kel said, turning to his crew. “Administrator, may I introduce my pilot, Kane Fel’dar; my Bothan friend, Nan Ved’horo; my Jawa companion, Sli Ihenek and her droid, H2-99; and our two newest additions, Anaxis Fenaxos and Zex Karnagath. Everybody, this is Administrator Elia, chief executive official of Dantooine.”

“A pleasure,” Elia greeted politely. “I hope you all find your time here on Dantooine to be both pleasant and productive. Speaking of which,” she transitioned, turning to Kel once more, “what exactly  _ is _ your purpose in coming here?  _ Off _ the record, of course, as per Code 5.”

“Someone gonna mention what Code 5  _ is _ ?” Kane asked impatiently. Kel looked over at her.

“It’s a classified part of Dantooine’s execute code,” he explained. “It basically means authorized individuals can come and go on and off world without being registered into the official records.”

“It’s a privilege extended to very, very few,” Elia stated, “and a Jedi was a natural addition to the list.”

“ _ Former _ Jedi, Administrator,” Kel corrected.

“Right,” she acknowledged simply.

“So nobody knows we’re here except for whoever sees us,” Nan noted. “Nobody can leak documents of our passage or forward any information confirming our presence. No wonder you chose Dantooine to lay low, Kel - we’re ghosts here.”

“Lay low?” Elia repeated, raising an eyebrow and looking at Kel. “I thought laying low was what you did for a living, Mr. Andali.”

“Not so much these days, Administrator,” Kel replied with a smile. “On that note, I believe there is an extended conversation we need to have, pertaining to both the needs of Dantooine, and my own crew.”

“Of course, Mr. Andali,” Elia replied. “We would be honored to host your crew in my administrative complex as guests. We were preparing for dinner soon, if you would all like to join us.”

“Uzuno krahkana jeki wuwu? Phabana kraza, utini!” Sli jabbered excitedly.

“Sli expresses her excitement at the prospect of a decent meal,” H2 translated.

“That would be very generous of you,” Kel replied. “We’d be honored.”

“Very good,” the Administrator said. “My people will escort you to your rooms. You may rest and settle in, and after dinner we can have that ‘extended conversation’ of yours.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Kel thanked.

With that, the Administrator gave a nod in farewell, and turned around, her guards escorting her back out. Kel turned to face the rest of the crew as Kane stepped up towards him.

“Are you sure we can trust them?” She asked him, her hands on her hips.

“Absolutely,” Kel replied. “I’ve done right by these people. We’re welcome here.”

“I don’t know, Kel,” Kane replied, her arms crossing nervously, “something feels off to me.”

“Sli gabba gohukra,” Sli babbled.

“Sli says she doesn’t think anything is wrong,” H2 translated. “I must concur. The probability of betrayal by individuals who have already entrusted Kel with such privileges, especially so far away from any Imperial authorities, is very low.”

At that moment, more Khoondans entered, though now they were dressed more like civilians. They approached the group, with one of them, an old human male, taking the lead.

“Greetings, I am Kaz Bel, I am the chief of staff for Administrator Elia,” he greeted. “If you’ll all follow me and my peers, we’ll escort you to your rooms.”

“Thank you, Kaz,” Kel expressed, going with the group. Sli, H2, and Nan all went with them, though Nan paused to place a hand on Kane’s shoulder in a show of comfort. Kane just sighed and stood there as everyone else walked away. Anaxis approached her, with Zex following him.

“What has you so spooked, Kane?” Anaxis asked.

“Yeah, it seems like this’d be a great place to, you know, ease up, let your guard down,” Zex added. Kane shook her head and started walking away.

“I never let my guard down,” was all she said.

Anaxis and Zex exchanged looks, but ultimately shrugged and joined the rest of the group. Anaxis didn’t know what to make of Kane’s strange mood shift. When they met, she was all guns blazing and high spirits. Now it felt like she was an ice storm looming in the distance. Whatever it was, Anaxis felt that it would be best to let sleeping dogs lie.


	24. Dinner Prep

“Can you  _ believe _ this place, Nax?” Zex asked as he plopped himself down on his bed. The suites they were offered were two to a unit, and Anaxis and Zex decided to pair up to board together. Kel and Sli took a room, and Nan and Kane took the other. The rooms had closets with some basic outfits provided for them, body sanitizers to wash up, and a holo-projector to tune into the net. It wasn’t luxury, but for two lower-class Maranians, it was a step up. Especially for Zex.

“I can’t say I was expecting something like this when we joined a rebel crew,” Anaxis said playfully, sitting on his own bed. “More like sleeping on the ground or a prison cell.”

“Well I guess we joined the  _ right _ rebel crew,” Zex expressed. “I used to never think I’d ever get off of Maran, and now I’m the guest of a planet’s governor!”

“More like the plus-one to a guest of the governor,” Anaxis reminded. “We’re only here because of Kel.”

Zex sat up excitedly. “Which is  _ another _ amazing thing! We’re personal friends and crewmates with a  _ Jedi Knight _ , Nax! It’s like some kind of children’s story come to life!”

“Yeah, that’s what worries me…” Anaxis grumbled. Zex’s enthusiasm faded a bit.

“You’re not still worried about your mom, are you?” He asked. “I’m sorry about yelling at you in front of everyone,” he apologized.

“It’s fine, Zex, I deserved it,” Anaxis replied. “I’m just… still not comfortable with our whole situation. Like… did Kel tell you why he wanted us to be on Dantooine?”

“Lay low, network, he told everyone,” Zex shrugged.

“That’s not all, Zex,” Anaxis said. He hadn’t mentioned this before to Zex, mostly because he didn’t know how to bring it up. “He brought us here because his master brought him here once, he thinks it’s a good place to… to start training us. He wants to teach us to be… like him,” Anaxis revealed. He didn’t know what to say that didn’t use the word ‘Jedi’ since Kel made such a point about how they weren’t going to be Jedi, so he settled on just ‘like him’.

Zex’s eyes widened, and he gaped at Anaxis’ words. “He wants to teach us? Teach us, to be, you know, like a Jedi?”

“Yeah,” Anaxis confirmed. “But he didn’t say so before we were already headed here.”

“So?” Zex shrugged. “It’s not like he tricked us into joining the crew just so he could make us Jedi,” he reminded, “and besides, it’s not the  _ only _ reason he brought us here!”

“I guess not, but… I don’t know, I don’t like being in the dark about stuff like that,” Anaxis responded. “It makes me feel out of the loop, like I don’t deserve to know what people are trying to do with me.”

“Nax,” Zex said, standing up and walking towards Anaxis before kneeling down in front of him. “You can’t keep looking for reasons to be suspicious and scared. I don’t know what’s going on with you, if you’re not over your mom or if you’re just paranoid or what, but we’re suddenly flung into all of our dreams coming true and  _ more, _ and all you’re doing is finding reasons to run away from it,” Zex commented. He didn’t sound angry, just… worried. Disappointed.

“I guess this just wasn’t what I was dreaming about…” He mumbled.

Before Zex could ask what he meant by that, a knocking came at the door, causing them both to look over at it.

“Kids, dinner’s being served soon, make sure you’re cleaned up,” Nan’s voice came through. “Be ready in five minutes, we’ll wait in the hall.”

Anaxis looked back at Zex. “I guess we better finish getting ready.”

“Alright,” Zex conceded, “but we’re not done talking about this, OK?”

“OK,” Anaxis agreed. Zex stood up and stretched a bit.

“So, five minutes to get all cleaned up and ready,” he observed. “I think we can wash up in five minutes or less.”

Anaxis sighed. “That’s not enough time for us both to sanitize,” he realized. Zex smiled at him, his face flushing a few shades redder.

“It is if we sanitize together,” he pointed out, suggestively making his way over to the bathroom. “I’m getting in, you’re welcome to join me.”

To say that Anaxis’ blush was severe would be an understatement.


	25. An Uncasual Dinner

Everybody arrived to dinner on time, and seated themselves casually. The Administrator sat at the head of the small table, with what Anaxis guessed was her retainers and aides sitting closest to her. The other half of the table was dominated by the crew of the  _ Beggar _ , with Kel taking the head on the side opposite of Elia. The meal served was fairly humble, but it was better than the synthesized food that the  _ Beggar _ produced; this was fresh and cooked, and it tasted delicious to Anaxis as he began chowing down. A few moments passed where nobody really made any conversation, and the only words spoken were simple courtesies commenting on the food. Then Kane decided to speak up.

“So, Administrator,” she said, swallowing a mouthful of food, “how do you and Kel know each other?”

The Administrator hesitated the answer the question, caught a bit off guard by it. Anaxis wondered what Kane’s game was, because he was pretty sure there was a larger motive in asking that then to just make small talk.

“Well, Mr. Andali and I first met during his first stay on Dantooine, eight years ago,” Elia answered. “He had been living out of his ship in the wilderness as a hermit, when one of the survey teams under my command found him.”

“Carving a kath hound up with my lightsaber, no less,” Kel added with a nostalgic smile. “I thought I was going to have to flee the planet again.”

“Why didn’t you?” Kane asked.

“Because I ordered my men to bring him to Khoonda,” Elia answered, “with all respect and cordialness.”

“Why not turn him over to the Empire?” Anaxis asked. “I mean, I’m glad you didn’t, but eight years ago, selling out a Jedi just sounds like it’d be the norm.” He felt like he hadn’t done much to undo the insulting implication of the question.

“Dantooine is not a member of the Empire,” Elia answered politely, “we are not beholden to their laws. I was not Administrator then, but even my predecessor knew the value of having a Jedi friend, especially in this day and age.”

“So it was a mutually beneficial arrangement,” Kane observed. “You give Kel a place to hang his robes, and he does his thing around the community.”

“It was nothing so regimented or formal,” Elia clarified.

“No,” Kel added, “certainly not. It wasn’t an ‘arrangement’ at all, it’s not like we signed a contract. The allowed me to live here in peace, and in exchange I did a few good turns by them.”

“It seems like they’re grateful,” Nan pointed out. “Giving you the ability to come and go without anybody knowing, that takes a lot of trust.”

“Indeed, and it’s trust we place in Mr. Andali without reservation,” Elia stated.

“Well, I suppose that means we can all trust each other, right?” Kane asked with a smile. Elia smiled back and nodded politely.

“Certainly,” she said, “any friend of Mr. Andali is a friend to Dantooine.”

“So then let’s talk about these pirates,” Kane suddenly transitioned. There it was, Anaxis thought. She wanted to make sure Kel didn’t get to keep all the important stuff in private.

“I… intended to brief Mr. Andali on the situation in my office after dinner,” Elia reminded. Kane merely shrugged.

“I think it might be better to brief us all here and now,” Kane remarked, taking a sip of her drink. “Maybe it’s just my old-fashioned Corellian impatience, but I believe pretty strongly in direct dissemination of information,” she stated. Anaxis wondered where she had picked that phrase up - it didn’t sound like something she’d normally say.

“If I may say,” one of the Adminstrator’s aides spoke up, “it doesn’t seem very appropriate to discuss such matters over the dinner table.”

“I agree,” another aide said, “separation of work and life, and all.”

“Oh, but  _ gentlemen _ ,” Kane pried, “my work  _ is _ my life.”

“Subutu uchiha khrabasti,” Sli said.

“I concur with Sli,” H2 declared, “it is best if we are briefed entirely, so as to prevent miscommunication or misinterpretation.”

“I’m all ears,” Zex said, “I wanna know more about these guys, and what their deal is with their shoddy stealth tech.”

“Shoddy stealth tech?” The Administrator asked, confused. “What do you mean by that?”

“The pirates we engaged in orbit,” Anaxis answered, “they were cloaked, but only partially. Their physical profiles were still visible. We think they’re using jury-rigged stealth drives.”

“And we’d like to know everything  _ you _ know about them,” Kane tacked on. The Administrator looked at Kel, who merely shrugged.

“I’m sure it couldn’t hurt for us to get briefed now,” Kel said. The Administrator sighed and put her silverware down.

“Very well,” she conceded. “The attacks began a few months ago. We immediately noticed several peculiarities in them, and have not been able to pin any reason or logic behind them.”

“What kind of peculiarities?” Kel asked.

“Well, for one thing, they don’t take anything,” the Administrator explained. “They destroy our ships outright. No hailing, no pillaging, and so faras we can tell, not even any salvaging.”

“That is highly illogical,” H2 noted. “There is an approximately 0.0012% chance of reconciling these facts with the theory that the hostiles are engaging in piracy, which I calculated to have a 92% chance of being accurate.”

“They’ve made no overtures or demands, no explanations about what they want,” Elia went on. “They just attack our freighters and leave them dead in space.”

“Maybe they’re some kind of cult?” Nan hypothesized. “If they’re not doing it for money, maybe it’s out of ideology.”

“Initial calculations indicated the likelihood of ideological motivation to be 4%,” H2 reported. “Reconciling the reported lack of communication with typical cultic desire for attention has a chance of 44.2%.”

“I can’t imagine what any cult would want with Dantooine’s suffering,” Elia lamented. “We’re a peaceful world, removed from any larger galactic concerns.”

“Have you noticed any patterns in the targeted freighters?” Kel inquired.

“Just that they’re all incoming; anything going offworld gets left alone,” Elia answered.

“What about us, then?” Anaxis asked. “We were incoming, and we didn’t get attacked.”

“Well, maybe they were just busy with the  _ Katunga’s Pride _ ,” an aide suggested.

“It should be noted,” H2 spoke up, “that the pattern of targeting indicated two likely possibilities. First possibility: hostile forces maintain active scans of the planetary system and intercept incoming craft.”

“If they have any kind of base,” Kane said, “then that’d definitely be a strong possibility.”

“But then they would’ve sent fighters for the  _ Beggar, _ ” Kel pointed out.

“Maybe they didn’t have any more available when we arrived,” Kane suggested.

“Possibility of low-resource scenario is low,” H2 stated. “If four fighters constituted the majority of their forces, they would not allow even a single lose in engaging the  _ Beggar _ , let alone two. Therefore, it is an anomaly that the  _ Beggar _ was not engaged by a separate hostile force.”

“Which brings us to your second theory, I’m guessing,” Zex spoke up.

“Correct. Second possibility, however, is significantly less desirable,” H2 warned.

“We’ve heard that before,” Kel remarked. “What is it?”

“Second possibility: Hostile forces have access to intelligence regarding scheduled freighter arrivals, and prepare accordingly,” H2 theorized. The table fell a little quiet at that.

“So… they have someone on the inside,” Zex suggested. “Telling them what’s arriving when, and stuff.”

“Not necessarily,” H2 corrected. “It is equally likely that they acquire this information by remote access. Hacking into local servers remotely would not be very difficult.”

“That can’t be, our systems are perfectly secure,” Elia contradicted. “We have technicians monitoring all access to Khoonda servers all ours of the day. We’d notice if someone were illegally retrieving files.”

“Considering what my databanks say about Dantooine’s economic prosperity, it is possible your systems are not as secure as you believe,” H2 remarked. Anaxis wondered if that was some kind of droid humor.

“If they  _ are _ hacking into Khoonda to mine the flight schedules,” Nan postulated, “why don’t they have the outgoing schedule?”

“It is possible they cannot access it due to security protocols, or are disinterested in its contents,” H2 replied. “Without a more firm understanding of their motivation, I cannot be sure.”

“If the servers were being remotely accessed,” Kel said, “Would you be able to tell, H2?”

“The probability is high,” H2 responded. “But I would need full access to the security systems to guarantee my results are accurate.”

Everyone looked over at Elia, who looked around with somewhat widened eyes. “I… suppose that could be arranged, provided you restrict yourself to the relevant files,” she warned.

“I am a droid, ma’am, not a spy,” H2 assured.

“Very well,” Elia permitted, “our security office is locked down for the night shift, but tomorrow morning I can have you brought there and granted full access.”

“Locked down?” Kane asked, raising an eyebrow.

“We only permit civilians access to the office during work hours,” Elia explained, “to protect the sensitive information inside and allow our guards a chance to rest. Emergencies after hours are to be reported to the emergency comm channel.”

“Then tomorrow,” Kel declared, “we will see what we can find. If H2 can find no indications of tampering with your systems, we will have to assume that our enemies are using scanners. We will plan from there.”

“If that is all,” Elia said, “perhaps we can return to a more casual dinner setting?”

Kel smiled his assent, but Kane seemed dissatisfied. Anaxis simply continued eating his meal, unsure of what else he could possibly say. Zex, however, had plenty to say, as he asked the Administrator question after question about Dantooine. How the government worked, what the economy was like, where to go for what. 

Anaxis didn’t pay much attention to the Administrator’s answers; he was spending too much time focused on trying to figure the situation at hand out. Something seemed off to him. Couldn’t the Administrator just unlock the security office? How could the attacks go on for months just targeting incoming craft?

He remembered what happened on the  _ Beggar _ in Kel’s dorm, when he opened the holocron. He felt Kel’s emotions, like they were a kind of heat coming off of him. He realized that was kind of what was happening on Maran, when he and Zex sensed the Third Sister. They could feel her emotions, her power, her viciousness. Then Anaxis could feel Kel’s relief, his happiness, his hope. He wondered if he could take that a step further and see what people were not only  _ feeling _ , but  _ thinking _ . Kel could tell Anaxis was hung up about his mom and dad - maybe Anaxis could figure out what was going through the Administrator’s head.

Closing his eyes, he started to focus on the Administrator. He didn’t visualize her like he did with the holocron, instead he just kind of… willed her thoughts to be audible. He could feel her, faintly, along with everyone else around him. It was like knowing they were there, without seeing them. He tried to focus on the ‘presence’ of the Administrator. He examined it, felt it, and tried to reach into it. He just got by the surface feelings of curtness and disinterest when he felt something… strange.

“Hey,” he heard Kane say, patting him on the back. “You alright, kid?” She asked.

“Yeah, I’m just… tired, is all,” Anaxis lied. Kane nodded knowingly - she knew he was lying, but she didn’t care to talk about that just now.

“If you’d like to retire for the night,” the Administrator said, “feel free to do so, don’t feel obligated to sit and suffer quietly.”

“I think a walk outside would do some good for him,” Kane said, turning to Anaxis. “I wanted to step out for some air, anyway, care to join?”

He could tell she wanted to do more than stroll through the crisp air. “Sure,” he agreed.

“Don’t be out too long,” Kel requested, “I wanted to speak with you and Zex before you go to bed. It pertains to what we discussed on the  _ Beggar _ ,” he alluded. Anaxis nodded his understanding as he stood up with Kane. Zex looked up at him, looking almost surprised that he was leaving his side.

“I’ll see you back in our room?” Zex asked.

“Yeah, see you then,” Anaxis assured, before Kane gently patted him again to encourage he get moving.


	26. Nighttime Chat

As the smuggler and her co-pilot stepped outside, Anaxis noticed how much chillier the air had gotten with the sunset. He regretted not keeping Zex’s jacket, but made no complaints as the two of them walked through the wide streets of the Khoonda settlement. Neither of them said anything, though Kane made it clear she wanted him to follow her. He did so faithfully, and they eventually walked off of the metal-plated ground of Khoonda and onto the soft soil of the grassland, walking away a small distance more before finding a bridge that crossed a small creek. It was a loud area, the sound of insects and critters in the distance buzzing and hooting and sounding all around them. Anaxis had never heard anything like it, then realized this is what ‘nature’ sounded like on most worlds. Kane walked halfway onto it, then sat down on the side and crossed her arms.

“Alright, we should be clear of any camera feeds here,” she stated. “I didn’t want people eavesdropping.”

“Eavesdropping on what, exactly?” Anaxis asked, seating himself on the opposite side of the small bride.

“I saw you at the table,” she said, “eyes closed and all. Nobody else noticed, I think, but when someone’s trying to do Jedi stuff, it’s pretty obvious. You need to learn to do that  _ without _ looking like you’re trying,” she chastised lightly.

“Sorry,” Anaxis apologized, “I just… wanted to see what I could do.”

“And what exactly  _ did _ you do?” She asked, curious. “You weren’t moving anything, so far as I could see, so I’m guessing you were trying to read somebody’s mind, right?” She hypothesized.

“Y-yeah,” Anaxis admitted.

“The Administrator’s mind, right?” She pushed on, smirking a bit.

“Yeah,” he confirmed.

“I’m glad we’re feeling the same way about her,” Kane expressed. “Did you learn anything?”

“No, not really,” Anaxis said, a little dazed by how quickly the conversation got to this point. Kane was certainly a no-nonsense kind of person, despite her otherwise cavalier attitude. “I didn’t really know what I was doing. I just kind of tried to get in her head, and it felt like I was starting to, but all I could feel was something… I don’t know, weird. It felt pretty complicated.”

“Kel’s told me that sensing emotions through the Force isn’t easy to do at first,” Kane explained. “It’s like learning a language you already know, but in an alphabet you never knew existed. You know all the feelings, but you don’t know what they look like through the eyes of the Force.”

“So, what, I’m going to learn what emotions look like?” Anaxis asked. Kane shrugged.

“I guess,” she said noncommittally. “What I’m thinking is that you sensed a jumble of emotions in her, too many mixed together too much to figure out what all is in there. But if you felt it almost right away, that means it was either recent or powerful, or both.”

“Kel told me that negative emotions like guilt stick out in the Force,” Anaxis mentioned. “Maybe she was lying about something and felt bad about it?”

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Kane agreed. “But I don’t know what she’d be lying  _ about _ .”

“I don’t, either,” Anaxis said. “Do you think Kel suspects anything? Maybe he can already tell Elia’s not being honest.”

Kane shook her head and shrugged with a sigh. “If he  _ does _ , we might not know about it for who knows how long,” she complained. “I’m not even sure how skeptical he is of her to begin with. He might be totally buying everything she’s selling.”

“But he’s…” Anaxis stopped himself to find the right words. “He’s got Jedi training, he should be able to tell when someone’s lying right?”

“It’s not always that simple, kid,” Kane clarified. “If your mind’s in the wrong place, you might not pick up on what the Force is telling you. Or if their mind is in the  _ right _ place, they can hide it, but I don’t think Lady Drab’s got that kind of training.”

Anaxis furrowed his brows a bit. “How do you know so much about the Force, anyway?”

Kane just gave him a sly smile. “Let’s have that conversation later.”

Anaxis didn’t know what to make of that. It was a whole conversation? So far, he had learned as much about the Force from Kane, who, as far as he knew, was just a smuggler-rebel from Corellia, as he had from actual-Jedi-Knight Kel. Did she just pick it up from him, or what?

He decided not to press it for the time being, though he made a mental note to bring it back up again later. “OK… so you think maybe Kel’s not thinking straight?”

“It’s definitely what my instincts are telling me,” she said. “And trust me, kid, Force sensitive or not, instincts are  _ never _ wrong. He’s got history here, and I think maybe he’s still living in those memories.”

“My mom used to say that about when she was pregnant with me,” Anaxis remarked. “She stayed with dad because she tried to believe he was just as great as when they met. But then she realized she was just holding onto the past, so she got more firm with him about settling down.”

“I don’t know if it’s anything that… tragic, or whatever,” Kane responded, “but same idea, yeah. Maybe Elia did right by Kel last time, but I don’t think she’s kept as straight and narrow as he might think.”

“Well,” Anaxis said, “maybe we’ll learn more tomorrow. Hopefully H2 will find something to shed more light on everything.”

“Probably,” Kane remarked. “That droid’s clever, he probably already knows he’s going to be looking for more than just illicit access tomorrow.”

“Like what?” Anaxis asked, genuinely unsure.

“Mysteriously deleted records, transmissions to people that don’t exist, stuff like that,” Kane explained. “Shady stuff.”

“He said he wouldn’t access anything that didn’t have to do with the flight schedules, though,” Anaxis pointed out. Kane deadpanned at him with a smile.

“Kid, he can lie, remember?” Kane reminded, standing back up and letting her hands fall to her sides.

Before Anaxis could respond, however, they heard a rustling in the grass on the far side of the bridge. Kane looked over at it, her eyes squinting a little bit. Her right arm went up to her hip, sliding inside of her duster jacket as her mechanical arm rose up in a small defensive guard. Anaxis froze, unsure of what to do. The sound of insects and critters was gone - he hadn’t noticed during their conversation, but it was definitely silent now. The silence hung over them like a choking fog. Seconds passed.

Suddenly, something leaped out from the grass. Anaxis screamed in surprise, but Kane drew a blaster from her side and hit the beast square in the head. Its corpse followed the momentum of the leap, crashing into her metal arm before being shoved aside to the ground. Kane pointed her pistol at it, blasting two more bolts into its head to be sure before stashing the pistol away. Anaxis got a better look at the animal - it was large and canine, with gray fur and an orange mane.

“Kath hound,” she named. “There’s usually packs of them - we better get back to Khoonda.”

Anaxis nodded with nervous panting, frozen by shock. Another rustling of grass was enough to snap him out of it, and he went dashing for the settlement. He heard blasterfire behind him as Kane dealt with the rest of the pack. In a few seconds, he was back on the metal pavement, and turned to see Kane casually walking towards him, fixing her hat with one hand as the other rested on one of her pistols. There wasn’t a scratch on her.

“Let’s get inside and get some rest,” she suggested. “We can talk more tomorrow.”

“Y-yeah, yeah, sounds good,” Anaxis agreed. Kane laughed a little bit as they made their way back to the central building.

“While we’re here, let’s get you and Zex something to shoot with,” she said. “There’s plenty to shoot  _ at _ , that’s for sure.”


	27. Hallway Chat

Zex and Kel walked through the halls of Khoonda together, chatting a bit as they digest dinner before going to bed. Kel had suggested they go out for a walk - he said he had something he wanted to talk to Zex about. ‘Besides,’ he had said, ‘if Kane gets Anaxis, I get you.’ 

Zex had agreed enthusiastically - his instincts told him that Kel’s ‘something to talk about’ was, more specifically, related to a certain all-encompassing energy field projected by living things. Which was why Zex was surprised when he instead asked about his life on Maran.

“Tell me Zex,” Kel said, “why was it you decided to become a thief and a rogue?”

“Huh?” Zex asked, caught off guard.

“You mentioned you had a job with a shipwright in the city,” Kel recalled, “why didn’t you make it a steady source of income?”

Zex just shrugged at the question. “I didn’t like the work enough,” was all he said.

“And yet working on a ship is one of your dreams,” Kel pointed out. Zex was surprised he remembered he had said that - Anaxis was the only person who paid that much attention to him. “Did you not like the  _ boss _ ?”

“No, Pumbo was great, I loved Pumbo,” Zex assured. The memories he had of the large Toydarian, so jovial and kind for his race, were some of his favorites from an otherwise awful time in his life. “He gave me all the fun jobs, taught me as I went. Never asked questions when I didn’t show up, never made a big deal when I suddenly popped in for work.”

“Perhaps the co-workers were cruel?” Kel guessed. Zex shook his head.

“No, we all got along. Some of them would give me grief for not showing up, but we all got paid by the hour, so what did any of us care? They were some really friendly people,” Zex assured.

“Then it was a happy environment for you,” Kel observed.

“Yeah,” Zex agreed, reflecting on how true the statement was. “It really was.”

“So then why not work there full-time?” Kel asked, his tone sounding genuinely confused. “Good pay, good people, good work - seems like a dream job for you.”

Zex thought about the question. He never really knew why he didn’t stay at the hangar bay with Pumbo. Some days he’d want to show up, others he just wanted to go out and make a killing out in the streets. He earned the same credits either way, most days. It was a great job, except…

“I guess… I did it out of spite,” Zex said finally, as they walked through more hallways.

“Spite?” Kel asked, curious.

“My folks, they were pretty well off,” Zex said. “Good, honest family, loyal Imperial citizens. But I didn’t want to be like them. I wanted to be my own person. We fought a lot - I’ve told you about that,” he remembered.

“You only mentioned running away,” Kel corrected. “Never much about why.”

“Yeah…” Zex sighed. “I don’t like thinking about it that much. But, I guess to answer your question, that’s why. I didn’t want to do anything that might make dad proud.”

“Hmm…” Kel hummed. The conversation lulled off there for a while. Zex didn’t know why he had wanted to know such a trivial thing, but he assumed it was for some good reason or other.

“How many people have you told this to, Zex?” Kel finally asked. “All of this about spiting your family and all.”

“Erm…” Zex stammered, trying to think. Only one name came to mind. “Anaxis, that’s about it.”

“So in your years, you’ve only ever told this to two people - yourself, and me,” Kel commented.

Zex shrugged. “Seems like it,” he concurred.

“Why do you think that is?” Kel inquired. “Two people know this about you - one you’ve known forever, the other you’ve known for not even a month.”

“I don’t know,” Zex admitted, realizing it was perhaps a bit strange for him to be talking about this with Kel. “I guess I just trust you.”

“As much as Anaxis?” Kel followed up.

“No,” Zex contradicted emphatically. “I don’t trust anybody like I trust Anaxis. You’ve just done a lot of right by me. Plus, you’re… a…  _ former _ Jedi…” he stammered a bit. “That makes you pretty trustworthy in my book.”

“I see…” Kel replied, mulling over Zex’s words some more. “So you lived a life of spite and resistance, and you trust those who remain loyal and close to you through adversity.”

“Uh… yeah, pretty much,” Zex agreed weakly.

“You know,” Kel continued, “the Jedi taught that passions and negative emotions were the pathway to the dark side; they were uncontrollable and inevitably brought suffering and pain, and they were to be avoided at all costs. There is no emotion, there is peace - that was part of the Jedi Code,” he explained.

Zex’s face fell a little bit. He didn’t like where this was going. “So… I guess that means I’d make a pretty bad Jedi, then, huh…”

“Yes, you would,” Kel stated simply. Zex felt his blood run cold and his heart break up. He had gotten so worked up and excited to hear he was going to get to be a Jedi - a Jedi! - and now he was being told that it would be a bad idea?

“But,” Kel went on, “I made a pretty bad Jedi, too.”

“Y-you did?” Zex asked, still unsure of how to feel. Kel laughed.

“I was an  _ awful _ Jedi,” Kel emphasized. “I did everything I wasn’t supposed to do. I got attached, I got emotional, I felt passionately about things - my master always thought I’d grow out of it, but the others weren’t so sure.”

“So… is that why you left?” Zex asked. Kel shook his head.

“No, leaving was the most Jedi thing I’ve ever done,” Kel said. “But my point is, I know that the things the Jedi said were evil and awful,  _ weren’t _ . It was everything I  _ wasn’t _ supposed to do that made me do a better job as a peacekeeper, as a mediator, as everything the Jedi  _ should’ve _ been. Your spite shaped you into who you are, Zex,” he explained. “It connected you to Anaxis, it gave you your skills, and it brought you to me. If you had acted like a good Jedi, you wouldn’t be here right now.”

“So… it’s  _ good _ to be  _ bad _ at being a Jedi?” Zex asked, only barely following Kel’s point. Was this a good thing or a bad thing?

“For our purposes, Zex, yes, it is,” Kel clarified. “Consider that your first lesson.”

“Wait… what?” Zex stammered.

“Your first lesson,” Kel repeated. “Of your Force training. Knowing yourself, and knowing that who you are is enough. I’ve already started teaching Anaxis that lesson, so I figured I should catch you up before we  _ really _ got started.”

Before Zex could ask what he meant by that, they reached an exit. Kel opened the door, and invited Zex to step outside. He did so, and was a little bit thankful he had kept his jacket when Anaxis returned it - it was cold outside. Cold and dark - the grassfields beyond the bright lights of Khoonda’s spacious streets looked like black oceans, waving in the light breeze.

Kel looked up as he walked out of the building, and examined the night sky, smiling a bit. “Yes,” he said, “this is good. I think tonight will do.”

“Do for what?” Zex asked. Kel looked at him, still smiling.

“For beginning your training in earnest,” Kel answered. “Let’s go find Anaxis.”


	28. First Lessons

Kane and Anaxis were just reaching the central complex when they saw Zex and Kel standing outside one of the exits. The two turned towards them, and began approaching.

“Speak of a rancor,” Kel said. “We were just looking for you, Anaxis.”

“Why, what’s up?” Anaxis asked.

“We’re going to begin your training - if you would like to, of course,” Kel explained. “Like I said before, no pressure.”

“No,” Anaxis said, “I want to see what you have to teach me.”

Kel chuckled. “See what I have to teach, you say - a very wise choice of words.”

“Uh… thanks?” Anaxis thanked uncertainly. What did he mean by that?

“Just don’t get eaten by kath hounds,” Kane warned. “We already had a run in with a tiny little pack of them.”

Kel raised an eyebrow. “So close to the settlement?”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Kane agreed. “Seemed kind of bold of them.”

“How is it bold?” Zex asked. “They’re just animals, they’re probably looking for food.”

“Well normally Khoonda has militia patrolling the perimeter to scare them off with blasterfire,” Kel explained. “Otherwise they’d terrorize the settlement. It’s strange for them to be so close and not have anyone on patrol.”

“So… are we postponing training then?” Anaxis asked. His tone was neither hopeful nor disheartened - it was a simple question. Kel thought for a moment, and shook his head.

“No,” he answered. “At worst, I can easily handle a few kath hounds. At best, it might prove to be a useful teaching tool.”

“Are you going to do the beast trick thing?” Kane asked. “Cause if you get them to sit pretty when I’m not there to watch, I’ll shoot you myself.”

“I’ll make sure to get footage of it,” Kel promised with a smile.

“No deal, I wanna be there to see it  _ live _ ,” Kane emphasized, smirking back at him. “But, I’m sure your training is going to call for concentration and focus and all that shit, so I’ll let you have the boys to yourself. Besides, I’m not interested in chilling myself like meat in a freezer.”

“I appreciate it, Kane,” Kel thanked.

“Good night, you three,” Kane bid with a tip of her hat. “See you in the morning.”

With that, Kane walked into the building, and the three of them were left to themselves. Kel turned to face the boys, and appraised them. Anaxis’ expression was expectant; Zex’s was eager. This was good, he had both of their attention. That, his master had once told him, was the first step, and frequently the hardest - though he wasn’t sure if she meant it was the hardest in general, or the hardest when training  _ him _ .

“Let us talk a walk, yes?” Kel suggested, going off to walk away from the central complex. Anaxis and Zex followed him without question or hesitation. At first. Then the questions came.

“Where are we going?” Anaxis asked.

“Wherever the Force guides us,” Kel answered. “I suspect it will guide us to a quieter place than here.”

“Seems pretty quiet here to me,” Anaxis pointed out.

“I don’t know,” Zex disagreed, “sounds kind of like the city at night back on Maran.”

“What do you mean?” Anaxis asked. “The city doesn’t sound like anything at night, it’s all quiet.”

“Not really,” Zex argued. “It’s got all these generators humming and lights buzzing and fans running and power stations beeping. Just like here.”

“Well,  _ yeah,  _ because it’s a  _ city _ ,” Anaxis reminded.

“Which is precisely the problem,” Kel finally intervened. They were reaching the outskirts of the small settlement now. “The Force flows everywhere, but it can be felt more easily by the uninitiated where there is little distraction and little machinery to dull their senses.”

“So, what, the great big energy field doesn’t like the city life?” Anaxis asked, his tone somewhat mocking.

“Quite the opposite, wherever there is much life and much energy, the Force is strong,” Kel explained. “But it is like a sound. Too much or too little, and you won’t be able to hear it. That is why I wanted to bring you here, to Dantooine,” he went on. “It is a world teeming with life, life we sentients normally disregarded. But the Force flows freely here, away from the settlements, and it is a fertile training ground for that reason.”

“Is that why your master brought you here?” Zex asked.

“That was part of it, yes, though  was much more advanced in my training by that point,” Kel explained. “She wanted to humble me before the Force, show me the strength even the most basic life-forms have, and the power of simplicity.”

“Did it work?” Zex followed up. Kel laughed softly - he seemed to do that a lot.

“It certainly had an effect on me, but I feel that the lesson only really came across years later,” he answered. They were off of Khoonda’s pavement now, walking on the soft greenness of Dantooine’s surface. The stars above twinkled idly, like distant viewers watching what was unfolding on the soil of the humble world. As they trod through the thick grass, Anaxis remembered the kath hounds Kane had dealt with.

“Maybe we shouldn’t go out too far,” he suggested.

“You fear the kath hounds,” Kel remarked.

“I mean, yeah, it’s called common sense,” Anaxis snarked. Kel made an amused sound.

“Fear is like a starship’s user manual,” Kel said. “A useful guide, but a poor master. You must learn to balance your fear - know it, hear it, but do not let it control you.”

“Sure, I’ll keep that in mind when i’m being eaten alive,” Anaxis snarked.

“Nax, come on,” Zex complained. “Kel knows what he’s talking about. If we’re going to be like Jedi, we can’t be scared of anything.”

“Not quite, Zex,” Kel corrected as they continued walking away from the settlement. “It’s natural to feel fear, and it’s important to acknowledge it. The important thing is to  _ control _ it.”

“OK…” Zex acknowledged. “So… how do we control it?”

“Well,” Kel said, “start by listening. What do your fears tell you?”

“That we’re going to be eaten,” Anaxis remarked in a dry tone.

“So then the fear is that we will be harmed,” Kel concluded. “There is little we can do to prevent that, aside from combat training, which we will get to in time.”

“Or we could just stay where it’s safe,” Anaxis pointed out.

“True,” Kel conceded, “but for us, the objective is rarely ever where it’s safe. This is where balance becomes important - knowing what we must do or wish to do, and balancing it with what our instincts tell us.”

“My instincts tell me that there’s predators hiding in the brush,” Zex responded. “I can feel them. I… think.”

“It is good to trust your instincts,” Kel told him. “They tell you there is something you cannot see - and that  _ is _ something we can act on.”

At that, Kel paused, and reached into the deep pockets of his outfit. He retrieved from them his lightsaber hilts, shining slightly under the starlight. He activated them each, shining silver and glistening gold in each hand. The bright light emanating from the sabers reflected off of the eyes of creatures hiding beneath the grass, and startled them all into a hasty retreat. The shock of seeing the beasts revealed caused Anaxis and Zex both to jump, while Kel remained still and calm.

“You see?” Kel asked. “Your fears guided you, but once you learn to find balance and exercise control, they can be useful, especially when paired with your instincts.”

“Did you know they were there?” Zex asked.

“I only knew as much as you did,” Kel answered.

“Why not scare them away sooner, then?” Anaxis asked. “We were almost right on top of them, they could’ve pounced us any second,” he pointed out.

“True,” Kel conceded, “but they wouldn’t have done any harm. I wanted to make a point out of them.”

“And what point is that?” Anaxis pressed.

“That they feel fear as much as we do,” Kel answered as he began walking again. Zex and Anaxis followed and listened as he went on. “We all fear each other, and so we either flee, or we lash out. But little is accomplished by these things - that is the failing of the dark side,” Kel lectured. “Fear, anger, violence - they have their purposes, but being driven by them accomplishes little.”

“The dark side?” Zex asked. “Like, of a planet, or a person, or…?”

“The dark side of the Force,” Kel clarified. “So in a way, all of the above.”

“There’s sides of the Force?” Anaxis asked. “I thought it was just… the Force, you know, one big energy field, or whatever.”

“It’s somewhat complicated,” Kel responded. “The Force is, as you say, one singular whole, but as with any whole, there are divisions and nuances. There is the light side of the Force, which the Jedi committed themselves to. It’s power comes from positivity - compassion, peace, love. There is also the dark side of the Force, which is powered by negativity like rage, hatred, and fear. It is a powerful thing, but that power comes at a deep cost in many ways.”

“What kind of costs?” Zex asked.

“And what kind of power?” Anaxis added.

“My understanding of the dark side is… limited,” Kel confessed. “The Jedi shun it entirely.  It was difficult to access any knowledge related to the darkness. But I do know that being consumed by it would grant one immense power over many things, but it would render such power meaningless,” he explained. “Stories were abound of Jedi who fell to the dark side to protect those they cared for, only to become the very thing they sought to defeat.”

“What do you mean?” Zex asked. “They killed their own loved ones?”

“In some stories, yes,” Kel explained. “One of the most famous stories was the legend of Revan and Malak, two Jedi who defied the Council and went to war to defend the Republic - only to disappear and return as Sith Lords bent on  _ conquering _ the Republic.”

“ _ What _ ?” Zex asked. “How does that even happen?”

“It’s been a question scholars have asked for millennia,” Kel said. “There have been theories, but none were especially convincing. All we know is that they turned to the dark side, and in doing so they turned against the very Republic they tried to save.”

“You said they returned as Sith Lords,” Anaxis noted. “What… is that?”

“The Sith…” Kel trailed off. “If the Jedi represent the light side of the Force, the Sith represent the dark side. They study and practice the dark side, and fuel their powers with passion, hatred, and pain. If you are familiar with the Separatist leader, Count Dooku, then you are familiar with one of the most recent Sith Lords.”

“What about Darth Vader?” Zex asked. “I’ve heard about him in the holonews - some kind of enforcer for the Emperor.”

“Isn’t he just a droid?” Anaxis questioned. “He looks like one.”

“I know very little about Darth Vader,” Kel answered. “But I do not believe he is a droid. Three has mentioned him in the past, when we’ve crossed blades before. Whether he is a true Sith Lord, or merely a disciple, like the Inquisitors, I do not know.”

“So the Inquisitors are Sith?” Anaxis asked.

“Not quite,” Kel clarified. “They study the dark side, yes, and they are likely trained by a Sith, but they are not  _ truly _ Sith. They are an order of their own, the Empire’s version of the Jedi.”

“What happened to the Jedi, anyway?” Zex asked. “I mean, we all know they’re dead now, but… how? If you’re an  _ ex _ Jedi and you can beat an Inquisitor like Three, I can’t imagine how  _ every _ Jedi could die so quickly.”

Kel sighed, and finally stopped, standing still in the tall grass, illuminated by his sabers. It didn’t take the Force to tell both Zex and Anaxis that the question wasn’t an easy one for him to hear. “I don’t have an answer to that. For now, I believe we have found a good place to begin the next part of our lesson.”

“The next part?” Anaxis asked. “What was the first part?”

“The walk here, of course,” Kel answered, turning around with a smile. He switched his lightsabers off, and sat down, cross-legged, on the ground. The grass was tall enough to come up to his chin. Anaxis looked at Zex, who glanced back at him before shrugging and sitting down, as well. Anaxis followed the example.

“So… what happens now?” Anaxis asked.

“Now, we meditate,” Kel answered. “Close your eyes, and expand your mind. Let your thoughts come and go freely - do not dwell, do not rush.”

“Should we… I don’t know, try to like… feel the Force around us?” Zex asked.

“No,” Kel said. “Do not  _ try _ to do anything. Merely allow your mind to be free, and that will be enough.”

“What if more kath hounds come for us?” Anaxis asked.

“Don’t worry about them. They will not come. If they do, I will protect you,” Kel promised before closing his eyes. “Now, let us begin.”


	29. On Jedi and Gen'dai

Hours had passed aboard the Lambda shuttle. Malach had felt an extreme joy when his master had brought him to the hangar and told him to board it. Lambda shuttles were reserved for Imperial elites - high-ranking officers and officials. If he was riding in one, it meant that his future would be bright, indeed.

His master had said nothing to him. She merely went to the pilot and barked her instructions, commanding him to return them to ‘Inquisitorius Alpha’. Malach did not ask where Inquisitorius Alpha was, though he presumed it would be his new home and training ground. What exactly that training would entail, he did not know. All he knew was that he would bring glory to his family name - and that was all that mattered.

Still, in the confines of his mind, he wondered if Inquisitorius Alpha was in the Core Worlds. He hadn’t been in the Core Worlds since he was young, when his family moved out to Maran. It had been his father’s dream, and his, to one day return to the Core. Perhaps Malach could fulfill that dream quicker than he expected.

“I sense apprehension,” his master observed idly. She sat, cross-legged, on the floor of the shuttle, at the back, in front of the raised loading ramp. Malach sat on one of the chairs lining the side of the shuttle, and turned to face her.

“I am eager, master,” Malach stated. “To begin my training.”

His master made an amused sound. “You know not what awaits - or you have some inkling, and crave it anyway.”

“I know I will be held to impossible standards,” Malach stated. “And that I will meet and exceed them.”

Another amused sound, this one closer to a chuckle. “You seem to know much of my order. More than most, at any rate. Why is this?”

“My family has members seeded throughout the Empire, master,” Malach answered. “We have an estate on the Anaxes Citadel, and my uncle serves on the Imperial Senate. I have cousins serving under high ranking Imperial officers. Word gets around.”

“Hmm…” his master hummed. “You seek to live up to your family’s standards.”

“I seek to exceed them, master.” Malach corrected.

“Should you be made an Inquisitor, you shall,” His master stated. “You refer to us as the Empire’s improvement over the Jedi. That is good. But do you know why it is we are superior?”

“You are loyal, for one thing, I assume,” Malach observed. “You serve the Empire, not yourselves.”

“Make no assumptions,” his master chided. “Either believe, or do not. Do you believe we are loyal?”

“I do.” Malach stated.

“Then do not weaken your words with assumption,” his master instructed.

“Yes, master,” Malach agreed, bowing his head. His master had not moved at all during their conversation. No gestures, no shift in posture, she hadn’t even turned to look at him. She was resolute in her stillness.

“That was a weakness of the Jedi, one which we have corrected,” his master pointed out. “They were weak. Weak of will, of spirit, of resolve, and they were weak of word. They lacked the will to do what needed to be done, the spirit to fight the right fights, the resolve to win a war, the words to inspire. That is the great fault of the Jedi, student. They are  _ lacking _ .”

“And we possess what they lacked,” Malach concluded.

“Yes.” Was all she said.

“...are the Jedi truly dead, Master?” Malach asked. It was the first question he had dared to ask. He somehow knew that if any question would receive an answer, it would be this one. His master sat silently for a moment, then slowly, she stood up, the first movement in the whole conversation. She turned to him, and answered.

“Do you know of the Gen’dai species?” She asked him, slowly pacing towards the other side of the ship.

“No,” Malach answered.

“They are a… curious species,” she explained. “They possess no bones, no heart, no lungs, no organs of any significance. They are a mass of muscles and nerves, formless save for their predatory heads. They are fierce warriors, and are nearly impossible to kill. Carve them up like a meal and they will simply regenerate from it. The most you can do is disable them - for a time.”

At that point, she had reached the other side of the passenger area. She turned around and began pacing back to where she started.

“However, their miraculous abilities have limits,” she went on. “They cannot, for example, maintain their psyche as their long, millennia-spanning lives go on. It inevitably results in psychosis and mental instability for them as they reach their later years.”

“Their bodies stay fit, but their minds decay,” Malach summarized.

“A succinct analysis,” his master praised. “Long after their minds have left them, long after whatever personality, whatever identity they had is gone, their bodies continue to struggle.”

She paused her pacing as she reached Malach, and turned to face him, standing in front of him, looking down on him.

“Much like the Jedi.” She concluded. “There are those who were Jedi Knights, who yet wield their lightsabers and the Force, who still walk the galaxy. In that sense, yes, the Jedi yet live. But their soul, their being…?” She trailed off, punctuating her point with a soft chuckle. “That died long ago. Those that remain have nothing left to live for.”

Malach nodded, understanding. “Then we will put them out of their misery.”

His master made another amused sound, then walked back to her place at the loading ramp, sitting down again. She made no further remarks.


	30. A Glimpse of the Universe

It took a while, but Zex finally managed to get his mind to shut up and calm down.

He had managed to quiet his thoughts and focus only on the sounds and sensations of the moment. The rustling of the grass in the wind, the hum of Kel’s lightsaber, the chill of the air… he had never felt so in tune with himself and his body. It was like he had gone numb, but could feel more than he ever had before. Like the entire universe was waking up to him for the first time.

He could feel the wind on his cheeks, rustling against his clothes. The fabric moved like the blades of grass around him. The chill made him shiver. He could feel his own warmth being trapped between him and the soil. He could feel every muscle in his body aching to move, aching to fidget, and he fought the temptation to scratch his nose or brush his hair back fiercely. He didn’t want to stop feeling this moment.

Yet for all the feeling, he didn’t feel anything that he could recognize as the Force. He remembered Kel had told him not to  _ try _ to feel it. He tried not to try, but what was he supposed to do? It wasn’t like he could just plug in and connect to a giant galaxy-spanning energy field with some mindfulness. Or could he? Was that how the Force worked?

“You’re thinking too much,” he heard Kel say.

“Me or Zex?” Anaxis’ voice inquired.

“Both,” Kel responded. “There is too much effort, too much concentration. You are looking in all the wrong places.”

“How can you tell?” Anaxis asked.

“The Force is an extension and a component of all living things, including our minds,” Kel explained. “Thoughts, emotions, these things create waves in the Force; this is how it is possible for us to read the thoughts and feelings of others.”

“So where  _ are _ we supposed to look?” Zex asked.

“You do not  _ look _ ,” Kel said. “You  _ feel _ . You already sense the Force, whether you realize it or not. You must learn what it feels like, without all other things distracting you. Now hush, and feel.”

Zex sighed a little bit and calmed his mind again. He wanted to feel it. He wanted desperately to feel it. He wanted anything that could make him better than his father or mother ever could’ve imagined. Was that right? Why did he just think that? That didn’t sound very Jedi like. He wasn’t supposed to be Jedi like, he remembered.

_ Quiet _ , he thought to himself.  _ For once in your life, be quiet _ .

He followed his own advice. He put his thoughts away, and tried to simply feel. The wind. The chill. The warmth. The grass.

He remembered what Kel had said about the Force. How it ties everything together, makes everything one. It made him think of how his clothes rustled with the grass, how his chill was countered by the warmth. Everything acted as one large system, one cycle, one unit.

He felt everything. And he realized that he wasn’t just feeling everything. He was feeling the everything-ness of everything. If he had felt like the universe was waking up for the first time before, now he felt like  _ he _ was waking up for the first time. He could feel things that weren’t on his skin or in his nose or his ears. He could feel Anaxis and Kel near him. He could feel the grass around him. Even the trace little patterns of the insects in the nighttime air buzzing around.

He felt other things, too. He felt something… far away. Something bad. Coming from… upwards. And… downwards. Coming from everywhere. He could feel it coming more and more into focus. It felt like all the pain from the day he first ran away from home was dripping down like rain from every corner of the cosmos.

And he felt something closer, more definite, more precise. It felt like dying embers. It was somewhere on the planet. It was calling to him. Calling for help. Crying for help.

Zex’s eyes shot open as he sucked in a deep gasp of cold air. He felt a stinging on his face, and reached up to find tears streaking down his cheeks. He had been crying. He looked over at Kel, who was already staring at him, his expression saddened. Anaxis opened his own eyes when he heard Zex in distress, and immediately moved towards him.

“Zex, Zex are you OK?” Anaxis asked.

“I… yeah, I’m… OK…” Zex whispered. He wasn’t sure if he was OK. He wiped the tears from his eyes and looked at Kel. “I felt… a lot of sadness.”

“I had thought you might be the first to feel it. Your empathy and eagerness to learn drove you to it,” Kel explained.

“To what?” Anaxis asked. “What do you mean?”

“Zex has taken his first step into a much larger world,” Kel explained. “And you will, as well, Anaxis, sometime very close to now.”

“What was it I felt?” Zex asked. “Why did I start crying?”

“Because you were unprepared,” Kel answered. “Your eyes were opened to the wholeness of the galaxy for the first time, and you were not prepared to see what you saw.”

“Will you  _ please _ give us a straight answer?” Anaxis demanded. Kel sighed.

“You felt the galaxy, Zex,” Kel stated. “You felt the entire galaxy as a single being, and you felt its pain.”

“The… the whole galaxy?” Zex asked. “It hurts that much?” He followed up. He didn’t know it could be possible for an entire galaxy to feel that much sorrow, that much agony. Kel nodded somberly.

“It has felt this way for nearly fifteen years,” he said. “The start of the Clone Wars was the death knell for peace in the galaxy. It plunged us into a cycle of fear and violence that we have yet to break.”

“But the Clone Wars ended ten years ago,” Anaxis pointed out. “I mean, is this just the pain left from them, or something?”

“In a way, yes.” Kel said. “But war never changes, and evil births evil. The scars of the Clone Wars have yet to heal, and the Empire is like an infection in those wounds, festering with pus and irritation. So long as their tyranny stands, the galaxy will never heal.”

This brought a deep silence over them. Only the buzzing of insects and gentle breeze could be heard. Nobody said anything for several seconds. Then Zex spoke up.

“Can we do anything to help it heal?” He inquired quietly. Kel smiled.

“I like the directions your thoughts take, Zex,” he complimented. “It is possible to heal, yes. That is what our crew tries to do. But we can only tend to the symptoms - the Empire is the illness.”

“So, what, we have to overthrow the Empire?” Anaxis asked, incredulous. “That’s impossible.”

“Ah, impossible…” Kel repeated, amused. “A long time ago in a galaxy that seemed nothing like this one, I believed in that word, as well.”

“Then what happened?” Zex inquired, curious. Kel shrugged.

“I discovered the Force,” was all he said.

“But the Empire’s done that, too,” Anaxis reminded. “How can we topple a galactic government all by ourselves?”

“We won’t be by ourselves,” Kel answered. “We have our crew, and I am sure there are others in the galaxy who will rally to the cause of rebellion. We just have to give them something to believe in.”

“Kel,” Zex spoke up, getting his master’s attention. “There was something else, too. Something else I felt. It was… nearby.”

“Nearby?” Kel asked, uncertain. “How nearby?”

“I’m not sure,” Zex said. “I just know it’s close. It… it felt like it needed help. Like it was being attacked.”

Kel stroked his beard in thought. “I… did not feel this. Are you sure it was something you were feeling through the Force? Or was it your own anxiety playing tricks on you?”

“It was definitely the Force,” Zex assured. “I could feel it, it felt like… like the rest of the galaxy, but more urgent, it was less like it was in pain and more like it was being tortured, I… I don’t know how to describe it, but I know it needs help.”

“Kel,” Anaxis said, “you mentioned this place was strong in the Force, or something. Could that have anything to do with what Zex, uh… sensed?” He asked, obviously feeling out of his element. Kel considered it.

“It is… possible,” he answered. “It might be a site where the Force is especially strong. Sacred locations being desecrated can be felt by Jedi lightyears away, in some circumstances, but if that were the case, it would be odd that I do not sense it…”

Suddenly, they all perked up. Kel had sensed it, and the boys had heard it. Rustling in the grass. While the wind was still. Kel stood up and ignited his silver lightsaber, causing Zex and Anaxis to rise as well. Illuminated in the tall grass by the blade was four especially large kath hounds with large horns, ready to gore their prey. They flinched at the sudden light, but growled and held their ground. Kel reached a hand out to them, trying to calm them through the Force. Instead, the closest one snapped at him, causing him to jump back in surprise. The pack began padding towards the three of them slowly. Kel activated his golden lightsaber.

“It seems the local wildlife is… agitated,” he observed.

“What do we do? Run?” Anaxis asked.

“They’ll overcome you in seconds,” Kel stated, adopting a fighting stance. “Stay behind me, watch carefully, and consider this a demonstration in saber combat.”


	31. A Few Miles Away...

_ Phew phew! Phew! _

 

The airy sound of extra-charged tibanna gas streaking through the air in bolt form was like music to her ears. The hounds in the grass scurried and ran and yelped as her shots landed their marks. She holstered her blaster contently, somewhat disappointed that she had run out of things to shoot at. She turned back around to the Rodian working at the metal door set in the weathered, gray stone.

“How’s it coming?” She asked. Her helmet gave her voice a cool, whispery undertone. The Rodian didn’t stop focusing on the door as he used a myriad of tools to fiddle and tinker with it.

“Say what you will about the Jedi,” he said. “They knew how to build themselves a fucking door.”

“Remind me why I can’t just blow a hole in the wall?” She asked, idly observing the stone.

“Because if you do, you might cause the whole structure to lose its integrity,” he explained.

“Which would be bad, because…?” She prompted boredly.

“Because then the whole damn building comes crashing down, and there goes four thousand years of history. Plus our paycheck,” he pointed out. “Besides, we don’t have the explosives to punch through this.”

“It’s fuck-thousand year old rock,” she noted. “I’m pretty sure a thermal detonator could punch through it.”

“Vex, don’t you have anything better to do than bother me while I’m trying to work?” He asked, his voice losing patience.

“No. That’s the problem.” She complained. “Why am I even here? There’s nothing for me to do while you’re trying to crack open a broken lock.”

“There’s plenty for you to do. You can keep the kath hounds and kinrath away,” he said.

“That’s not fun,” she complained, scanning for more predators, desperate to shoot something.

“Well, try to entertain yourself, then,” he implored. “I don’t know how much longer this is going to take.”

“It’s taken us four months so far, Phasaan. The kath hounds are learning to avoid the place and the kinrath have stopped coming completely. I’m running out of entertainment.”

“Go raiding or something, I don’t care,” he suggested. “Just don’t let anyone find out we’re here.”

“Raid  _ what _ ?” Vex asked angrily. “The fucking farmstead ten klicks away? The fucking admin capital?”

“Vex, figure  _ something _ out, cause you’re starting to piss me off,” Phasaan warned.

“Well what would make you go faster?” She asked impatiently.

“I’m using the best tools we could afford,” he said. “The only thing that make this go any faster is an actual lightsaber.”

A pause come over them as Phasaan worked on the door. Vex pulled her hands on his blasters and thought for a moment. Finally, she started walking off of the stone porch of the complex and into the tall grass. Phasaan looked back at her.

“Where are you going?” He asked.

“To find you a lightsaber,” she answered.


	32. Conflict, Peaceful and Otherwise

Kel stood over the dead kath hounds, scored with dark slashes deep into their bodies. He was panting slightly, and had broken a light sweat. He searched around, trying to see or sense more kath hounds approaching, but could detect no approaching threats. He deactivated his lightsabers, and turned around to face Zex and Anaxis, who were staring at him in awe. He couldn’t help but smile a bit at the look on their faces.

“I didn’t know a human could move that fast…” Zex gawked.

“Given enough time and training, you could move even faster,” Kel promised. That seemed to put a sparkle in Zex’s eyes. Anaxis, however, seemed less enthused.

“You said the kath hounds were angry,” Anaxis recalled. “Why do you think that?”

“I tried to connect with them through the Force, to calm them and turn them away,” Kel explained. “But they were too emotional, too fearful. The connection wouldn’t hold.”

“And that’s unusual?” Anaxis followed up. Kel nodded.

“It only happens when they’re starving, or injured,” Kel explained. “But they were in perfect health, and they didn’t look starved. It’s most curious, most curious indeed…”

“Well, good riddance to them, at any rate,” Anaxis stated simply. “Fewer hounds to bother anybody else.”

“Anaxis,” Kel said sharply, “there is no reason to celebrate their death.”

“Why not? I mean, they’re predators, aren’t they?” Anaxis pointed out. “All they do is attack and kill.”

Kel sighed, his expression darkening for just a moment before he regained his peaceful composure. “They are as much a predator as you are, Anaxis,” he stated. “You mustn’t allow yourself to be blind to their nature, any more than you should be blind to your own.”

“I have no idea what you’re saying,” Anaxis stated simply. He was running out of patience with all this cryptic bullshit.

“He’s saying we’re all the same,” Zex stated. “We’re all connected.”

“So, what, I’m a kath hound, too?” Anaxis snarked. “Does that mean I get to go around taking a bite out of everything?”

“Anaxis, you’re behaving like a child,” Kel chastised. “I will teach you everything I know about the Force, but it won’t matter if you close yourself off from every lesson I try to teach.”

“Maybe I’d be more receptive if your lessons weren’t a bunch of cryptic riddles and aphorisms!” Anaxis snapped. “Maybe I’d care more if you’d just give straight answers instead of leaving me sitting in the dirt trying to ‘feel’ some big giant galactic energy field with my mind, while a pack of giant kath hounds circle around getting ready to eat me! And then after they  _ try _ to eat me, you try telling me to feel bad for them!”

“That isn’t what I meant -” Kel tried to clarify, but Anaxis went on.

“No! I don’t care what you meant! I’m not wasting my time getting lectured by you!” Anaxis vowed.

“Nax, come on, calm down,” Zex implored. Anaxis glared at him.

“Zex, if you want to sit around in the cold in the middle of the night listening to the galaxy or whatever, you can go right ahead, but I’m going back to where it’s warm and safe,” he angrily declared. Zex was taken aback by this, but Anaxis simply turned and started walking away. He marched through the darkness for a second before Kel spoke up.

“Khoonda is that way,” he said.

Anaxis paused, groaned softly, and turned around, walking in the right direction this time.

“Nax,” Zex called out, walking towards him. “Nax, come on, don’t, we can walk with you,” he offered.

“No,” Anaxis said angrily. “I want to be alone.”

Zex froze in place. He wanted to keep following, to keep arguing, but he couldn’t find words, he couldn’t even find the will to keep moving. Never in all the time they’ve ever known each other have they wanted to be alone without the other. When Zex ran away from this old life, all he wanted was Anaxis in his new life. When Anaxis had his spirit broken by his mother, the only person he wanted to be around was Zex. ‘Alone’ wasn’t a word to them.

He watched the boy he had dreamed about walk away from him. He wasn’t sure what this meant. But he could feel a crack starting to creep across his heart, ready to break it. He was snapped from his state of shock by the sensation of Kel’s hand on his shoulder.

“He will be fine,” Kel assured.

“He’s never been like this,” Zex said, his tone flat and neutral, unable to express any emotion.

“He’s never been in a situation like this,” Kel countered. “You have already had to walk away from an entire life before. He’s experiencing it all for the first time.”

“But this is what we  _ wanted _ , Kel,” Zex insisted. “For years, all we’ve ever wanted was to get away from Maran and have an adventure, and now we’re rebels, we’re becoming  _ Jedi,  _ and he doesn’t want anything to do with it…” he trailed off. “Is it because of his mom still?”

“Partially, I think,” Kel agreed. “But there is more to it, I believe.”

“I should talk to him,” Zex decided.

“No,” Kel disagreed. “This is something he needs to figure out for himself. We should get back to your training.”

“What about Anaxis?” Zex asked. “It’s not fair for me to keep training without him.”

“It’s also not fair to allow yourself to be held back by his own decisions,” Kel countered. A moment of silence passed before he continued. “I know you care for him, Zex. And he cares for you. But you must both be willing to accept and respect each other’s choices. If you wish to know the Force, he must accept that, whether or not he does the same.”

Zex remained silent for several seconds, thinking about Kel’s words. It didn’t feel right to do anything without Anaxis. He wanted this to be something they did together. But if Anaxis didn’t want it, then… then he should still support the fact that Zex  _ does _ want it.

“I… guess so,” Zex agreed at last. Kel nodded.

“Very well,” Kel said. “Let us -”

Before Kel could finish his sentence, he perked up and turned around, flashing a lightsaber out in a wide sweep, batting an especially large blaster bolt away from the two of them. He squinted, and could see a figure in the distance. He saw it holster a large shape on to its back - a sniper rifle, he figured. He reached into his outfit’s jacket and produced a blaster pistol, handing it to Zex.

“Arm yourself,” he instructed. Zex took the pistol, dazed and unsure of what was going on.

“What’s happening? What was that?” He asked. Kel produced his other lightsaber, and assumed a defensive posture.

“Not sure,” Kel said. “But it’s not friendly.”

At that moment, the figure in the distance lit up and shot into the air, approaching them rapidly. Kel’s expression hardened, and readied himself for battle. The attacker was flying right towards them, and he could see them a bit more clearly, lit by the light of their jetpack’s exhaust. He recognized the armor.

“Zex, stay behind me,” he commanded, shifting his stance.

Finally, the attacker entered blaster range, and opened fire with twin blaster pistols. He deflected the bolts, holding his shoto down and back while his main blade did all the defensive work. When the assailant came close enough, he ducked slightly and threw his shoto at her. She pulled herself out of its trajectory, and Kel guided it back to his hand with the Force. The attacker flew past them, then landed a few yards away. 

Zex took a few shots with his pistol, causing his target to dodge and dash in a zig-zag pattern to avoid his shots. She opened fire on him, but Kel shifted around to defend him, blocking the shots, once more with his shoto down. This time, Zex started taking shots from behind Kel, forcing the attacker to take to the air once more to gain more maneuverability. As they rocketed upwards, they hurled something at them, something that beeped loudly and flashed a red light. Kel’s eyes shot open before he threw the device into the air with the Force, where it exploded brightly. The transgressor was just outside of the blast radius, but the shockwave caused them to lose their balance. They crashed into the ground, and slowly stood back up. Kel stood ready, while Zex kept his blaster trained on her. She regarded the two of them.

“So I guess it’s true then,” she said. “There’s a Jedi on Dantooine.”

“Just an old man with some lightsabers, girl,” Kel replied. “Nothing new to Dantooine.”

“Maybe not,” she said, “but definitely a lot rarer - and more valuable. I hear the Empire pays out big time for Jedi.”

“And here I thought you were a  _ real _ Mandalorian,” Kel said. He could sense her surprise and bitterness, and smirked. “Your people aren’t new to Dantooine, either - but then again, neither is mercenary scum.”

The Mandalorian trained her pistols on the former Jedi Knight. “Tell you what, you give me a lightsaber, and I let you walk away. Nobody has to know you’re even here.”

“You’re not in much of a position to be bargaining,” Kel stated. The Mandalorian laughed.

“I guess I’ll just have to persuade you otherwise.”


	33. Reinforcement

Anaxis trudged his way back onto the metal pavement of Khoonda. He walked briskly with frustration, and didn’t allow himself to slow down despite his better judgment telling him he should go back and apologize to Zex and Kel. Or at least, he should apologize to Zex. He didn’t deserve to be snapped at, Anaxis recognized that once he had calmed down more. But at the same time, he didn’t know how else he could respond to his best friend in the universe siding with a cryptic fossil over him. Why did Zex trust Kel so much? And why was he so willing to buy into all of his Jedi garbage?

He couldn’t think over it for very long, though. Just as he stepped foot onto Khoonda’s pavement, he heard blasterfire in the distance. He turned around, and saw a massive red streak shoot up into the sky - a sniper bolt. He paused, unsure of what was going on - was that some kind of Force technique? He saw an orange light flare up and shoot into the sky, before it opened fire with twin blasters. He could barely see the light of two lightsabers blazing away, defending against the attack.

The next thing he knew, he was running. The sound of an explosion made him run faster.

He rushed into the central administrative building and made a dash for the dormitories. He found the rooms the rest of the crew were sleeping in and started banging on the doors.

“Guys! Guys, get up! Zex and Kel are in trouble!” He shouted. Why weren’t there any alarms? Why wasn’t anybody up?

Kane and Nan’s doors opened first. Nan looked bedraggled, Kane wasn’t even out of her dayclothes. Sli and H2 came out of their room much slower.

“Suchihi?” Sli asked groggily.

“Sli would like to know what’s going on,” H2 translated.

“I… I don’t know, I was walking back, and then there was blaster fire, and, and an explosion!” He reported rapidly. He couldn’t think straight with how panicked he was. Nan’s expression hardened before she went back into her room. Kane straightened her hat before turning, the tails of her duster fluttering behind her. Nan came out with her blaster rifle, while Sli, Anaxis noticed, had climbed onto H2’s shoulders.

“On me,” Kane ordered. The rest of the crew started following her. Nan paused, before turning around, noticing the panicked teenager standing with wild eyes trying to figure out what to do. She patted his shoulder before disappearing into her room once more. She re-emerged with a blaster pistol and handed it to him.

“You can shoot straight, right?” Nan asked. Anaxis couldn’t find his words for a moment, but eventually remembered that nodding works, too. Nan nodded back, and gently nudged him forward. They dashed to catch up with the rest of the crew. Idly, Anaxis wondered what Sli could do in a fight - she didn’t seem like she could do much from H2’s shoulders.

They exited the building, and Kane pinched down on her hat’s brim with mechanical fingers, searching. She looked in the direction she last saw Kel going, and sure enough, there was a jetpack and blasterfire buzzing around the blur of twin lightsabers. She was certain he could take care of himself without her, but she’d be damned if he let him know that.

“Move it!” Kane shouted, breaking out into a sprint. Her duster fluttered like angel wings behind her, while Nan hunched over in a somewhat animalistic posture as she ran. H2 awkwardly jogged at full speed, Sli jostling humorously on his shoulders. Anaxis kept up, but they were running faster than he was used to - running from stormtroopers wasn’t this physically demanding.

Finally, they came up on the fight. There was a woman in armor jetting around on a jetpack, circling around Kel, who was deflecting the bolts from her twin blaster pistols. Anaxis’ eyes immediately went to Zex, who was firing rapidly and wildly at the attacker.

“Is that a Mandalorian _??”  _ Nan asked.

“Less asking, more shooting,” Kane ordered, pulling out her own pistols and opening fire on the target. Anaxis raised his pistol and did the same, though he was barely trained in blasters. H2 raised an arm, and a mechanism raised from his wrist before firing blaster bolts, and Nan started taking well-aimed shots. 

The Mandalorian was forced to take more evasive actions, and stopped firing on her target. She threw a fistful of silver orbs at the new arrivals, but Kel acted quickly and threw them back into the air telekinetically. They exploded like fireworks, giving the Mandalorian the cover she needed to start beating a retreat.

“I don’t think so,” Nan growled, “Sli! Ground her!” She ordered, tossing her rifle to the Jawa. Sli jabbered something, and aimed the rifle - which looked comically large in relation to her body size - and took a shot. It streaked out, bright red across the night sky. There was no way it could possibly hit a target that far away moving that fast.

It landed square on her jetpack, which exploded slightly, forcing her downwards and shoving her down into the ground.

Kel looked over at where the Mandalorian landed, before switching his sabers off and turning towards their reinforcements. “I had it handled,” he called out.

“So did we,” Kane called back. Nan walked past her towards Kel.

“What happened? Are you alright?” She asked.

“We’re fine,” Kel stated. Nan raised an eyebrow as she looked past him.

“Why is Zex holding his arm like that?” She asked.

Kel looked over, and saw what she was talking about. Zex held his arm, biting his lip a bit, his expression pained. He looked back and forth between Kel and Nan, obviously trying to come up with a story. Kel turned to face him fully and put his hands on his shoulders.

“Zex? Are you alright? Why didn’t you tell me you were hit?” He asked.

“I… I’m fine, it just grazed me…” Zex assured. Anaxis stormed towards Zex.

“Let me see,” he demanded, his hands going to hold him by the waist and further down his arm. Zex slowly removed his hand, revealing a cleanly shaped cut, bordered by tibanna burns and crusted over with blood. Kane could be heard whistling at the wound.

“That’s pretty nasty,” she remarked. “Looks like a charged shot. If that had hit your arm right on…” she trailed off, her fleshy hand numbly touching her mechanical arm.

“We’ll get you some bacta,” Nan assured. Anaxis’ expression darkened.

“This  _ your _ fault -” he declared, turning to face Kel, but saw that he was gone. He looked around, and saw him walking away towards the Mandalorian. He kneeled over her and checked her vitals. He stood back up, hoisting her over his shoulder. It seemed she was unconscious, and remained so as he walked back to them.

“Let’s get back to Khoonda,” he suggested.

Anaxis had a lot he wanted to say, but just as he took in a breath to get started, Kane put a hand on his shoulder. He took in a deep breath and let it out, taking Zex’s hand and leading him back to the settlement. The rest of the crew came with them, and they all kept their mouths shut on the trip. There had been enough to last them the night.


	34. A Visit

Kel sat in the dark of his room. It was long past the time for him to have gone to sleep. Yet he was restless, his mind listless and disturbed. He had rolled off of the mattress and onto the floor with elegance, before pacing the room for some time in thought. Finally, his thoughts had exhausted him to the point where all he could do was sit down and try to meditate. There was too much going on for him to figure out by himself - he would need the help of the Force if he was going to find any answers.

He silenced his mind, and extended his senses outward, numbing himself to his own body but becoming aware of his surroundings. His personal identity shrunk, but retained its individuality in the larger sea of the Force. He reached out, and began to stroke his conscience through the fabric of the cosmos, attempting to find peace.

He was doing something wrong, he knew that much. Zex was eager and willing, but Anaxes wouldn’t let go of himself. He had considered perhaps that he could train Zex alone, but the two of them were twined together at the heart - he could not have one without the other, and if one were to learn the ways of the Force, the other would have to, eventually. Otherwise, they would simply destroy themselves. How they would do so, or why, Kel did not know - he merely knew it was so. But that didn’t make his role as their master, or would-be master, any easier. He had thought he had addressed Anaxes’ issues on the  _ Beggar _ when they discussed his resentment towards his mother and father, but the problem ran deeper than that. Indeed, it was beginning to look to Kel like it was not a single problem but a complex web that Anaxes was caught in.

“Thus the student returns to the master,” he heard a voice say. He opened his eyes, and saw a ghost before him, standing as if in the flesh, as she had ten years ago in the spaceport corridor of Calus.

“Master…” Kel whispered, shocked. He had not seen her since the fall of the Republic, and eve then he didn’t know how it was that she could appear before him.

“You have questions, I sense,” she observed. “Perhaps I can be of some help.”

“How are you even here?” Kel asked. She smiled beatifically.

“Do not concern yourself with it, my student - my time with you is short. Let it be spent productively,” she implored. “You have taken on apprentices, and I would guide you in training them.”

“Your guidance may be limited,” he cautioned, “they’re no padawans.”

“You weren’t much of a padawan, yourself,” she reminded. He lowered his head at that.

“I suppose I wasn’t…” he admitted.

“Come,” she said, “what troubles you?”

“One of my students is receptive to my teachings,” Kel explained. “He listens and takes my lessons to heart. But the other… he resists me. Fiercely. Every excuse he can find to disregard me, he’ll use. He makes every effort to convince himself that I’m an enemy, or that I’m trying to use him for some larger goal.”

“Are you?” She asked.

“No,” Kel answered firmly. “I am merely offering to teach him.”

“Are you, Kel?” His master repeated. “Or is that simply what you tell yourself?”

Kel sighed. “I would  _ like _ for him to be a part of our resistance against the Empire.”

“Is he not already?” She inquired, her tone curious.

“He is, but…” Kel trailed off.

“Then what more do you ask of him?” She pressed. Kel tensed up a bit in frustration as she drove her point more without saying it directly.

“I want him to be a part of… whatever it is that I’m trying to make,” Kel confessed. “Something bigger than the  _ Beggar _ and its crew. A resistance. A rebellion.”

“Then implore him to remain on your crew as you seed these things across the galaxy,” she instructed. “I do not see why he must learn the ways of the Force if he is so vehemently against it.”

“Because… because I know he can be more if he would listen to me,” Kel argued. He knew he was grasping straws.

“Then it is to sate your ego,” she concluded.

“No, no!” Kel argued. “It has nothing to do with me!”

“That’s what you said when you left the Order,” she reminded.

A silence fell between the two of them. Kel’s breathing was hard, he realized. His heart was pumping. He was angry, angrier than he thought he’d be.

“The boys are connected,” he finally said. “If I do not train them both, then… I do not know what will happen. But it will not be good.”

“Connected… how?” She asked. For once, it was a genuine question.

“Through the Force,” he answered. “And each other.”

This seemed to give her cause to consider the situation more deeply. Finally, she spoke once more.

“They have feelings for each other,” she concluded.

“Strong feelings, yes,” Kel emphasized. “I have been tacitly approving of it.”

“That may not be wise.” She warned. “Such passions will not serve them. It may be the source of discontent between you and your student - jealousy destroyed many Jedi in our time.”

“I do not believe it is so simple,” Kel retorted. “Their connection to one another gives them strength. I believe it can give them focus, drive… perhaps…”

Kel trailed off. He heard his master sigh, no doubt realizing what was going through his head. He wasn’t exactly known for making his master proud of his… ‘innovative’ ideas when he was a Jedi. That wouldn’t chance much now.

“I can remain no longer,” she declared. “I warn you, Kel - if you permit their relationship to continue in such a dangerous way, it will only lead to darkness and destruction.”

Kel said nothing in return. He merely watched as the figure of his master slowly dissipated from view. He sighed once more after she had disappeared fully, and closed his eyes, choosing to meditate once more. He needed to collect himself. It wasn’t long, however, before he realized he was dozing off more than meditating. He stood, and returned to his bed, laying down once more for another barely restful slumber.


	35. Medbay

“If you had come with me, this wouldn’t have happened,” Anaxis had chastised after everyone else had left while the medical droid tended to Zex’s wound. “But no, you had to stay behind with the fucking Jedi.”

“He’s not a Jedi, Nax,” Zex gently corrected, grimacing a bit at the droid’s work.

“Well he’s as crazy as one,” Anaxis argued. “Sitting around outside waiting for kath hounds to eat us, doing… something to you, something hurtful, then getting you  _ shot _ …”

“He didn’t get me  _ shot _ , Nax,” Zex pointed out. “That would be the Mandalorian who  _ attacked _ us. Kel was making sure I was safe, if you didn’t notice.”

“Yeah, well, he did a shit job,” Anaxis groaned. “Besides, that Mando probably wouldn’t have started shooting at you if you weren’t with him.”

“Maybe not, but that kind of goes with being a rebel, doesn’t it?” Zex stated. Anaxis rolled his eyes.

“We’re not  _ rebels _ , Zex,” Anaxis complained. “We’re… we’re just travelling  _ with _ rebels.”

“Nax, we’re rebels,” Zex emphasized. Anaxis sighed angrily.

“We’re not  _ rebels!!”  _ He said more loudly. “We’re just two kids from the middle of nowhere that got abducted by a crazy radical mystic and his crazy radical crew.”

“Uh, I think  _ rescued _ is a more appropriate term? From an Imperial Inquisitor?” Zex reminded. “Who would’ve done who-knows-what with us?”

“Yeah, well, who  _ does _ know what she would’ve done with us?” Anaxis said. “What if we’re on the wrong side? What if we’re missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime to be an Inquisitor?”

Zex’s eyes went wide in shock. “Nax… since  _ when _ did working for the Empire become a career option for you??” He asked, sitting up despite the medical droid’s protests.

“Since getting scooped up by a Jedi and a crew full of criminals we barely know has gotten us both nearly killed!” Anaxis nearly shouted.

“Nax, we were going to be  _ spacers _ , that’s like… one of  _ the _ most dangerous jobs in the galaxy. Remember all the chats we had about what we’d do if Black Suns or Hutts or Consortium ships tried looting us?” Zex reminded.

“That’s different!” Anaxis insisted. “That’d be  _ legal _ ! I don’t mind blasting criminal scum! But  _ working _ with criminals? With  _ rebels _ ?”

“Holy stars above, Nax, what the hell did you start sniffing!?” Zex interjected. “So what, you don’t want to be Kane’s co-pilot? You think Kane’s evil? That  _ Nan _ is evil? That  _ Kel _ is evil??”

“No, no, they’re not…  _ evil _ …” Anaxis stammered. “I mean, Kane’s cool, I don’t mind Kane…”

“Ha! So the smuggler is cool, but the rest of them are no good rebel scum?” Zex laughed, incredulous. He had no idea what Anaxis was thinking. This was so unexpected - he and Anaxis had robbed the Empire dozens of times together on Maran. They talked all the time about how awful it was that the Empire could just do whatever it wanted, how unfair it was to everyone how cruel they could be. They always dreamed of a day when they could do something about it - what was this suddenly coming out of his mouth now?

“I just want what’s best for us, Zex!” Anaxis declared.

“And why the hell do you think this  _ isn’t _ what’s best for us?” Zex countered.

“Because it’s dangerous!!” Anaxis said, his voice raising.

“So is everything we ever wanted to do!” Zex replied, raising his voice in turn.

“But this is  _ illegal _ !” Anaxis went on, speaking louder.

“It’s still  _ right _ ,” Zex spat back, almost shouting.

“It’s… it’s…” Anaxis stammered, trying to find the words. Zex leaned forward, planting his hands on Anaxis’ shoulders and leaning in very close to his face.

“It’s  _ what _ , Anaxis??” He demanded to know.

“ _ It’s not what I wanted for us!!”  _ Anaxis finally screamed, losing his temper. Zex jumped back in shock, and Anaxis pushed him away, going on. “I never wanted  _ any  _ of this! I didn’t want this  _ Force _ bullshit to be real, I didn’t want  _ Inquisitors _ , I didn’t want  _ rebels _ , I didn’t want anything but  _ you _ , Zex!!” he shouted on. He paused, breathing heavily as tears pooled in his eyes. “I didn’t want anything but you, Zex…” he repeated, almost whimpering.

Zex sat there, breathing heavily as he felt tears sting his eyes again. He felt his hands tighten, curling the sheets of his sick bed into his fists.

“So all those talks we had… back in my tent… about the Empire… about  _ being _ someone… that was just…  _ appeasement?” _ Zex accused.

“I… Zex, no, no, I…” Anaxis stammered, too emotional to collect rational thoughts.

“Get out.” Zex demanded softly. Anaxis stared at him blankly. “Please.”

“Zex…” Anaxis whispered, stepping forward.

“ _ Get. Out.” _ Zex repeated, his voice quaking as his chest convulsed in shaky, uneven breaths. His pale face was flushed a deep red as tears fell down his cheeks.

Anaxis tried to find words, but couldn’t. He didn’t want this. He never wanted this. He just wanted Zex. He just wanted him. He just wanted him. Him, only him, the two of them, together forever and all across the stars.

Anaxis turned around and carried his pain with him out of the sick bay. The weight of it nearly broke his back. When the door closed, Zex closed his eyes. He took in a deep breath. He tried to process what had just happened. Tried to process what he was feeling. He numbly recalled this pain in his chest, but couldn’t figure out from where. All at once, thought, it came to him.

It was the same pain he had felt coming from the entire galaxy.

He heard creaking and metal groaning. He looked over, and saw the medical droid floating in the air, the tubes and rods that helped it function bending and breaking. He realized that  _ he _ was the one crushing the droid, and released his fists, causing the damaged droid to fall back to the floor, scurrying away for the maintenance bay for repairs. Zex looked at his hands, saw the way they shaked. He had never realized how much power was in those hands that had labored and slaved to stay alive, never knew how much pain he could’ve caused if it was a person and not a droid that he had lashed out at. He vowed to himself that he would never use that power for anything but good. There was enough evil in the universe. Even if Anaxis couldn’t see it.

Anaxis.

Zex threw himself down onto his bed at the thought of his best friend, and covered his face with his hands, trying to block himself out from the world where the most important person in his life just admitted to practically lying to him their whole lives. It took him a long time, but he finally cried himself to sleep.


	36. The Morning After

The majority of the crew of the  _ Hopeful Beggar _ sat at the breakfast table, eating their food in silence. They all had bags around their eyes, and none of them had actually slept restfully last night. They were roused and told breakfast was served, and that the Administrator would be with them presently after reviewing some reports. They all sat on one side of the table, as with last night’s dinner, but this time, Zex sat next to Kel near the head of the table, while Anaxis sat next to Kane close to the middle. Nobody asked about the change in arrangement. They were all too tired and internally numb to care too much at the moment. The night had been long and unkind to them all. The door opened, and H2 came in, with Sli at his side.

“I must say, I haven’t felt so cleanly recharged in some time,” H2 reported. “Their maintenance bay is quite nice, despite their financial issues.”

“That’s great,” Kane sarcastically replied. “Glad to hear it.”

H2 silently glanced around at the table. “My behavioral algorithms indicate that the morale of the crew is low this morning. Shall we engage in morale-boosting exercises?”

“No, H2, that won’t be necessary,” Kel assured.

“Very well. Engaging low-morale protocol, codenamed “Sit Down and Shut Up”, now,” H2 declared. Sli jabbered something, but he didn’t translate. Apparently he was serious about the ‘shutting up’ part.

At that point, however, the table was spared further awkward silence by the arrival of the Administrator and her aides, who sat themselves and regarded the crew on the other side of the table. The Administrator spoke up first.

“Khoonda never could be quiet with you in residence, Mr. Andali,” Elia remarked. “Not a full rotation, and you’ve already brought us a Mandalorian raider to our jail cells.”

“All in a day’s work, ma’am,” Kel replied. “I apologize for not filing a full report. It was late, and we were very tired. I figured we could fill you in over breakfast,” he said. The Administrator sighed as she swallowed her first bite.

“I suppose casual meals aren’t so possible in your presence, either,” she said. “Very well, do tell us precisely what brought our latest guest to our doorstep.”

Kel took a bite of his meal and swallowed quickly. “She attacked Zex and I in the middle of the night, while we were out in the fields training.”

“Anaxis came and got us,” Kane added, nodding towards Anaxis approvingly. “We went out and reinforced him. She tried to retreat, but we cut her off,” she explained. Anaxis noticed she didn’t say anything about Sli’s incredible sniper shot. Come to think of it,  _ nobody _ had said anything about that shot. Where did a Jawa learn to aim like that?

“She was knocked unconscious and brought here,” Nan tacked on. “We have no idea why she attacked Kel and Zex, or what she’s doing on Dantooine.”

“Probably just a raider looking to pillage,” Kaz Bel said. Anaxis had nearly forgotten about the chief of staff.

“She wanted Kel’s lightsabers,” Zex realized quickly, speaking up as soon as the memory came to him. “Maybe she wanted to sell it? I figure sabers probably got a high price tag these days.”

“Perhaps,” Kel said, “but that doesn’t explain why she was on Dantooine to begin with. I’m not willing to believe that she knew we were here.”

“Unless she is collaborating with the raiders,” H2 noted. “Perhaps they were able to attain your identity due to an information leak.”

“Where would they attain such a leak?” Elia asked.

“From a breach in the security system, of course,” H2 remarked. “The same security system you were going to let me examine this morning.”

“ _ First thing _ this morning,” Kane recalled forcefully. Anaxis simply chewed his food and watched the conversation unfold, his eyes going back and forth around whoever was speaking. He liked the way Kane worked. She didn’t let people beat around the bush, like Kel did.

“Oh… of course,” Elia said, deflating a bit at the reminder.

“That’s not going to be a problem, right?” Kane asked pointedly. “You’re not closing the security office down to give the militia a day off or something?”

“It will not be a problem,” Elia replied dryly. “I will give you full access after breakfast.”

“That would be good,” Kel thanked, cutting Kane off before she could retort. “I believe it would also behoove us to interrogate our Mandalorian friend when she awakes.”

“I can have my own men take care of that,” Elia promised.

“Believe me,” Nan piped up with a chortle, “we can do it better.”

“Seconded,” Kane said.

Elia seemed insulted by the sentiment. “Very well,” she agreed plainly. “When the prisoner wakes up, you will be given access to her.”

“And we can access the security mainframe?” Kane continued to insist.

Elia gave her a cold stare. “Immediately after breakfast.”

Kane pushed her plate away.

“I’m done with breakfast. H2 and I will go to the security office now,” she declared.


	37. A Sort of Homecoming

Malach stirred from his light slumber. The mild exhaustion he had felt before closing his eyes was gone. There was no grogginess. He was awake, alert. He was still in the Lambda shuttle, but his master was nowhere to be seen. He could tell that they had left hyperspace - just as an intuition. The ship did not have the same buzz, the same hum to it when the hyperdrive was disengaged. Which meant that they had arrived at their destination.

The door to the cockpit opened. His master, the Third Sister, he recalled, stepped out, and looked at him from behind her expressionless helmet.

“Come.” She ordered.

He stood, and walked over to her. She lead him into the cockpit. The pilot sat at his controls, eyes ahead, unmoving, not acknowledging the two other people in the room. Malach looked out the viewport, to see where they were going.

It was an amazing sight. A planet, orbiting around a tired out red star. The planet was blue and a thick kind of green, like infection mixing with water. The gleam of the darkly radiating star made it look like blood had mixed into the concoction. Half of the planet was shrouded in shadow, without any settlements to light the dark side up. It had a single moon, completely cast in darkness behind the planet, which Malach could barely discern. He stood, looking with awe at the beauty of the planet before them.

“Welcome to Inquisitorius Alpha,” she stated. “Our home.  _ Your _ home.”

Malach watched with anticipation as the pilot brought them closer to the planet. He watched as two fighters, the likes of which he had not seen ever before, approached them from seemingly nowhere. A beeping come over the pilot’s console. He pressed some buttons, and the beeping stopped. Coordinates appeared on his terminal - a landing space, Malach presumed. The fighters broke away, and the pilot brought them closer and closer to the planet, eventually breaking them through the cloud cover to reveal a landscape of foliage and seasides. The starlight made it seem like dusk, but the planet’s sun sat high and menacing in the sky.

“It’s a jungle world,” he observed. “The wildlife here must be diverse. And predatory.”

“The wildlife won’t even be a consideration once I am done with you,” his master stated. “Until then, remain within the confines of our complex. We have lost many initiates to reckless desires to prove themselves on the beasts of this world.”

“Yes, master,” Malach assured.

The Third Sister smiled beneath her helmet. Andali was her only desire, but so long as her superiors would keep her leashed, at least she would have a subservient pet to groom and rear. Let the deserter have his students - she would have her own, and when the day came, she would prove just how much greater she was, as a fighter, a Force wielder, even as a teacher.

Finally, they arrived at Inquisitorius Alpha itself - a sprawling complex of black buildings within a wall that staved off the wildlife. A small spaceport which hosted shuttles and personal fighters was the largest draw on space; buildings like the temple and barracks also loomed over the complex, and the miscellaneous arrays for power and communication dotted the area. It was dominated by Inquisitor black and Imperial white, sticking out like a knife in the green environment.

As the pilot brought them towards the landing zone, Malach sensed something tugging on his attentions, like his master had the day she came to his school. But this… this was much more powerful. At first, he attributed it to the complex itself, teeming with Inquisitors, no doubt; but there was something sticking out even among the Inquisitors, something even stronger, even darker. He looked over, and saw, across the spaceport from them, a tall, black figure walking down a strip towards a unique TIE fighter, with Inquisitors lined up on the strip, and another one walking with him. He saw the figure climb into the TIE, which took off and shot away just as their own shuttle started to land. He looked over at his master, hoping for some kind of explanation. 

He received none. The Third Sister was too busy grimacing in anticipation and indignation under her helmet. The Dark Lord himself had come to Inquisitorius Alpha, and she had not been present. She had not even been informed.

Finally, the Lambda shuttle touched down, and the boarding ramp in the back dropped. The Third Sister turned and left the cockpit, her new apprentice following her. They stepped together out of the cool, controlled environment of the shuttle, and into the hot, humid air of the jungle world. Malach could see the Inquisitors adjourning from where they had gathered, but more pressingly, he saw another Inquisitor approaching them directly. This one did not wear a helmet, and was taller than his master. He was human, with pale flesh and almost white hair, which was kept short and combed back. He was smiling a cruel smile.

“Welcome home, Third Sister,” he announced. “I would ask how the hunt goes, but we all already know the answer.”

“Have you come to jeer vainly, Fourth Brother, or do you have anything of worth to say?” The Third Sister asked viciously.

“I simply wanted to congratulate you on the honor of masterhood, sister,” he mocked, making an innocent gesture with his arms. “I only wish I could be here to see your teaching in action.”

“You have received assignment?” She inquired. “Remarkable. I suppose with me leaving the field, the Grand Inquisitor is desperate for field agents.”

“Actually, I am on assignment from Lord Vader himself,” The Fourth Brother corrected. “Perhaps you saw him leaving as you landed? His coming was most unexpected - he and the Grand Inquisitor talked at length, and he selected me personally for this assignment.”

The Third Sister seethed ferociously under her mask. “And what assignment is that?”

The Fourth Brother smiled, as if she had just made a fatal move in a game of dejarik. “To capture the Force sensitives taken from the planet of Maran by the Jedi Kel Andali. This is a follow-up assignment; following up, that is, the failure of one of our members to complete a routine assignment to secure three Force sensitive candidates. Well, partial failure - she got one,” he remarked.

The Third Sister drew her lightsaber, but did not activate it. “Andali is  _ mine,”  _ she growled.

The Fourth Brother merely smiled. “All I’m after are his students. I might even bring him back alive for you to play with, but who knows, if he gives me too much trouble…” he trailed off, walking past the Third Sister before she could follow the impulse to impale him then and there. “I will be taking this shuttle - good luck with your new charge, sister,” he said, walking onto the shuttle.

Before the Third Sister could respond, the boarding ramp closed, sealing her peer off from her wrath. She stood, infuriated, as the shuttle lifted off and shot away from the compound. Malach stared at the shuttle as well, unsure of what to think. His most immediate thought was to be worried about Anaxis. He dismissed that thinking, and instead decided that he wanted to kill the Fourth Brother. At that point, he heard footsteps approaching, and turned. His master did as well, in time to see a Pauan Inquisitor approaching them. The Third Sister stiffened and bowed down. Malach did the same.

“Grand Inquisitor,” the Third Sister greeted.

“Third Sister,” the Pauan said. “I see you have brought your student. Can you vouch for his potential?”

“He has the spirit of an Inquisitor. I will give him the rest,” the Third Sister assured. The Grand Inquisitor examined Malach. His piercing yellow eyes felt like they were burning through Malach’s soul. Malach did not look away.

“Indeed… we shall see…” the Grand Inquisitor vaguely agreed before looking back to the Third Sister. “Lord Vader visited us. We had much to discuss - including a potential route for you to redeem yourself in the eyes of the Inquisitorius.”

The Third Sister perked up. “Should I do so, would I be allowed to resume my pursuit of Andali?”

The Grand Inquisitor was amused and smiled. “Of course.”

“Whatever it is, it shall be done,” she promised, taking a step forward in enthusiasm. The Grand Inquisitor shook his head.

“Not until your student is ready,” he said. “You may not leave Inquisitorius Alpha until you are prepared to take him with you - a moment which will only come when I decide it has come.”

“But master -” she started, but he cut her off.

“No negotiations or exceptions,” he said firmly. “Consider it an incentive to make sure your apprentice learns thoroughly and quickly. The Inquisitorius does not welcome mediocrity. Do you know this, boy?” The Grand Inquisitor looked to Malach.

“I will be strong, master,” Malach promised firmly. “Stronger than a gen’dai.”

There was a pause. The Grand Inquisitor smiled. “Indeed. Perhaps you have the spirit of an Inquisitor after all,” was all he said before turning around and walking away. “You may commence his training at once, Third Sister. I would prefer he not die within the first week.”

The Third Sister gave Malach a shove, and he began walking. Her hand remained on his shoulder, roughly and forcefully guiding him in the direction she desired. He had no control over his own movement, as she jerked and shoved and yanked him every way she wished.

He somehow knew that it was to be a good representation of his training.


	38. Subtlety and Subterfuge

The security office wasn’t far from the dining room, just a few turns down a corridor. Kane and H2 were given directions by Elia before they left the breakfast table, and found it without difficulty. The door was open, and they walked in unannounced. As Elia mentioned, there were technicians inside, two of them, who looked up at them with confusion.

“Can we help you?” One of them asked.

“Administrator Elia gave my droid here permission to go through the servers to search for signs of tampering,” Kane explained.

“We weren’t expecting you for a little bit longer,” the technician said.

“No problem at all, the sooner we access the servers, the sooner we can get out of your hair,” Kane promised with a forced smile. The technician seemed to be fairly uncertain about it, but ultimately relented, showing them to the servers in the back of the room.

“Please make sure your droid only accesses the relevant files, everything else on here is classified,” the technician reminded.

“Oh, please, we’re not spies,” Kane waved his concern away as he returned to work She turned to H2 and spoke more quietly. “Be as thorough as possible.”

“Of course, Master Kane,” H2 remarked. “I may be a droid, but I am not dull.”

With that, H2 turned to the servers, and located the access port. He held his forearm up, and extended his interface rod, inserting it into the port, and began searching through the files. He started with all files pertaining to incoming ships, then expanded his search to all spaceport records. He combed through administrative files, as well, including personal missives. His suspicions were vindicated - what few firewalls existed in these servers were easily worked around, and there were only two layers of access recording, which were  _ nothing _ to erase clean.

He found what he was looking for in those access records - a series of logs noting remote access, none of which were found in the primary system history. Unfortunately, he could not trace where the access originated from, nor could he accurately identify what the user had done in the system while logged in. He  _ could _ see that other files had been deleted in the timeframes of those log-ins - which meant that whoever this phantom user was, they were cleaning up. The files they deleted were long gone, though - scrubbed clean. All he knew was that someone had rcently logged in to erase the fact that those other files were deleted, and then quickly - and poorly - erased record of their attempt at covering the tracks they had left while deleting said files.

To finalize his timeline, H2 checked the timestamps - and found that the deleted  _ files _ went all the way back several months, about when the attacks began, while the deleted access records only happened recently - just now, in fact.

Satisfied, H2 retracted himself from the servers, and turned to Kane.

“I believe I have accumulated the needed information,” H2 reported.

“Good,” Elia said, walking into the room, the rest of the  _ Beggar’s _ crew behind her. “I trust you found everything in order?”

“Yes, Administrator,” H2 lied. “My theory pertaining to inside access has been debunked.”

“There you have it,” Elia declared, content. “Our systems are perfectly secure. These pirates must have set up a base somewhere, and such a base can be located rather easily, I presume, given enough time and effort.”

“Then we will plan accordingly,” Kel stated politely. “Kane, why don’t you go to the  _ Beggar _ and start setting up for a long-range scan?”

“By myself?” Kane asked, incredulous. “I’m going to need more hands. In fact, I think  _ all _ hands would be best. There’s plenty of work to do around the  _ Beggar _ , we may as well get started on it all together while we’re on our little sanctuary planet.”

Kel raised an eyebrow, but shrugged. “I suppose you’re right. We can interrogate our Mandalorian prisoner shortly. If you need us, Elia, we’ll be aboard the ship,” he said simply, turning. The rest of the crew followed without further discussion. They all had a feeling Kane was going somewhere with this - even Anaxis and Zex knew she could handle a long-range scan by herself. Still, none of them said anything for fear of being overheard or recorded - except for Kel, who kept his mouth shut merely out of respect for the fact that he senses Kane wished him to.

Once they boarded the  _ Beggar _ , Kane led them up to the common room - and promptly sat on the couch.

“What did you  _ really _ find, H2?” She demanded to know, once everyone was gathered.

“Two items of note - first, deleted files dating back to approximately the time these attacks began. I cannot identify the nature or contents of these files with current information,” H2 reported.

“If they were deleted, how do you know they were even there to begin with?” Anaxis asked.

“Records existed of their deletion - and of the system order to delete them,” H2 explained.

“No sign of the files, but plenty of ashes scattered,” Kane ‘translated,’ catching H2’s meaning.

“And notes asking for things to be burned,” H2 added on, drawing from his protocol programming pertaining to metaphor.

“Well, we still don’t know what these files were,” Kel noted.

“An accurate statement, but the chronology is of special note, and that they were deleted to begin with - it is unusual for an archive to delete its own records, considering it exists for the sake of maintaining said records,” H2 retorted.

“You said there were two things you found out,” Nan reminded. “What was the other?”

“Records of access indicate deletion of several system orders for deletion of the files of interest,” H2 reported

“I’m… confused,” Anaxis admitted.

“Someone accessed the system to erase evidence that the files were ever deleted,” Zex clarified “Right?”

“Correct,” H2 said. “Of special note: The system records this access as occurring mere moments before I accessed the servers.”

“That… is some interesting timing,” Kane remarked. “Do you know who came in to clean house? Or where they were accessing from?”

“I do not. But probability indicates that they were instructed to make their edits by someone who knew I would be accessing the system - someone who knew I would be doing so earlier than previously anticipated.”

“Someone in the dining room,” Nan concluded.

“I did not sense any deception or hostility in the room,” Kel observed. “I do not believe it could have been Elia or her staff.”

“Then  _ who _ , Kel?” Kane snapped. “Who else could’ve tipped this slicer off that we were going to be snooping around?”

“Perhaps the timing was a coincidence,” Kel argued. “Perhaps these enemies of ours knew we would be investigating them, and tried to cover their tracks accordingly.”

“They would’ve done it sooner if that were the case,” Anaxis argued.

“I agree with Anaxis,” nan said. “It wouldn’t make sense for it to have been  _ that  _ coincidental.”

“I’m with Kel,” Zex spoke up. “We don’t know for a fact that anyone in that dining room ratted on us.”

“Sloogubu baca wana chi tubo,” Sli jabbered

“Sli feels there is more reason to distrust than to trust. I am inclined to agree,” H2 stated. “It is highly suspect, at the very least, and it also indicates that these pirates are, in fact, using remote access to profile their targets.”

“Then we should tell Elia that we were wrong,” Kel said.

“Absolutely not!” Kane replied. “If we let her know we’re on to her -”

“Kane, your distrust in Elia is completely unfounded,” Kel argued, raising his voice. “She is a perfectly upstanding woman, and she’d  _ never _ betray the interests of Dantooine.”

“That you know of!” Kane argued back. “It’s been  _ six years  _ since you’ve left Dantooine, Kel. Think about how much the galaxy’s changed since then - think about how much  _ you’ve _ changed! Now think about how much  _ she _ could’ve changed!”

Kel’s face hardened, but he remained silent. He took a deep breath, and seemed to relax a small amount, though he still had a tense posture. “Regardless, I am outvoted. We will proceed with this trickery and deception, no matter how pointless it is.”

“Yes, we will, no matter how far up your ass you shove your head,” Kane affirmed. “H2, while we’re here, can you set the comm array up to patch into their wireless network? I want to know when people are logging in and out -  _ especially _ anonymous users or users that are on proxy networks.”

“I can - and will also tune my own wireless sensors to the ship’s arrays, so I will be notified of any such access at once,” H2 said.

“Good. Next time these slicers try anything, we’ll know about it,” Kane stated.

“And hopefully we’ll learn who and where they are,” Nan added.

“And  _ that _ will put to rest this foolish suspicion of the Administrator,” Kel finished.

Anaxis wondered about all this disarray in the group - was this a common sight, or was this an unusual bout? He looked at Zex, who was actively ignoring him. Something told Anaxis that this was, indeed an unusual bout - as unusual as Zex ignoring him. He couldn’t tell if it was the Force, instinct, or wishful thinking - but he also sensed that it was as painful for the group, as well.


	39. Therapy with the Spymaster

“And… there, that should do it,” Zex mumbled to himself. The crew had broken huddle after deciding how to move forward, and broke up to handle various tasks. H2 was setting up the comm patch, while Sli decided to do an inventory on the cargo hold. Kel wanted to speak with the Mandalorian, and Kane insisted on coming with him - ‘if you’re going to be the good cop then I need to be the bad cop,’ she insisted. Nan said something about making a call, and Zex decided he’d do some work on the engines to make sure they were running fine after the lightning storm on Maran - Anaxis offered to help, but he declined. Instead, Anaxis was sent to help Sli take inventory, a task he seemed… less than eager to do.

Zex thought more about Anaxis while he cleaned his hands of engine guck, wearing nothing but his sleeveless undershirt to give him the most dexterity to work in. It didn’t feel right to be angry with him, but it also felt wrong to just forget about the fact that Anaxis hadn’t ever been completely straightforward about what he really wanted with Zex. Zex thought that he wanted  _ adventure _ , real adventure, being a part of something more important than the two of them by themselves. Being a part of the  _ Beggar’s _ crew.

Zex sighed to himself in thought as he ran diagnostics on the engines to make sure his work was doing what it was supposed to be doing. Apparently, it wasn’t. He thought he knew what was going on with the engines, but judging by the red and yellow numbers on the diagnostic screen, he was wrong. Engines and boys - you never truly know what’s going on with either, it seemed.

He decided to take a break and come back to it later, tossing his gunk rag aside and stepped out of the engine room. He figured he’d swing by his room and snack on something, that always cleared his head. He walked into the dorm section, and entered his room, but as he sat on his bed, he saw all of Anaxis’ things laying around on the bed opposite to his. He sighed - apparently he was going to have to think of something else if he was going to clear his head.

Stepping out of the room, he walked into the corridor just in time to see Nan stepping out of her room, holding a communicator.

“I appreciate it, cousin. Send me reports of anything you find. I love you.  _ Fenn gos’ko, ve giska _ ,” she said to the communicator, before cutting the link. She looked at Zex, noticing him pausing for her, and smiled. “The engines are treating you well, I hope?”

“Not really,” Zex sighed. “How is your cousin?”

Nan chuckled. “Oktra is well. He’s a former Spynet freelancer who does work for me for free. He specializes in communications. Digital eavesdropping, we call it - if it’s something meant for another person’s eyes, he’ll snatch it from the signals and send it along without anyone knowing it’s been read.”

“Sounds like a marketable skill - what’d you hire him for?” Zex inquired. He figured chatting with Nan would do more good to get his mind off of things.

“I wanted him to see what he could dig up about the Administrator,” Nan explained. “Specifically, if she’s had any talks with Imperial authorities.”

“You think she might be an Imp?” Zex asked, worried. Maybe the crew didn’t trust her, but for her to be working with Imperials would be a special stretch. Nan merely shrugged.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so,” she said, “but I’d rather be sure of it, either way - if she  _ is _ working with the Empire, then we’re going to be in a load of trouble. Better to know it’s coming than to be caught off-guard.”

“I guess, just seems kind of paranoid,” Zex observed.

“Paranoia is Bothan culture,” Nan explained. “And while there’s parts of Bothan culture I don’t approve of, it’s yet to serve me wrong to background check a stranger with bad vibes.”

“So Elia is giving you bad vibes?” Zex asked, leaning up against the wall to get comfortable.

“She seems to be giving everyone bad vibes, except for you and Kel, but that’s besides the point,” Nan noted. “It’s suspicious to me that she’d be so obstructive to us if she had nothing to hide.”

“Well, we  _ are _ kind of being rude, I mean, she’s Kel’s friend, we should be trust her more,” Zex argued. “Who wouldn’t get defensive when someone like Kane is on the offensive?”

Nan simply shrugged. “All the same.”

At that point, Anaxis came around the corner of the dormitory corridor, and saw the two of them talking. He smiled awkwardly at Zex.

“Zex, hey, I was just looking for you,” he said. “Sli and I are finished in the cargo hold, we need to grab some supplies from the market, if you wanted to tag along.”

“I’ve… still got work to do on the engines,” Zex said, his tone tense. Anaxis was visibly disappointed.

“Well, maybe I can help?” He offered, his voice sounding more like an apology than an offer.

“I don’t think so,” was all Zex said. It sounded more tired than it should for a boy of his age and temperament.

“OK… well, I guess I’ll be back later…” Anaxis said, walking away to join Sli. Nan raised an eyebrow at Zex.

“What?” He asked her, crossing his arms.

“It doesn’t take a Bothan spy to see that something is wrong between you and Anaxis,” she stated simply. “You were holding hands and sharing a jacket yesterday, now you’re talking like a divorced couple that’s still sharing a roof.”

“It’s nothing,” Zex brushed off. “I should get back to the engines.”

Nan stopped him as he tried to leave. “Zex, you and Anaxis are going to be sharing a lot of space for a long time, and it’s the same space the rest of us are sharing. Stars know when Kel and Kane get like this it’s awful for everyone.”

Now it was Zex’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Kel and Kane…?”

Nan ignored the implicit question. “Talk to me, child. I get those two through their bad streaks every time, and I’ll do the same for you and your boy.”

Zex crossed his arms again, and turned his gaze away for a moment. Nan could see what he was always trying to hide now - the boy who was scared and hurt. She wondered how deep that hurt ran, and how far back. But it wasn’t the time to ask about that. She gently gestured for him to step inside her room, silently offering privacy. He sighed, and did so, sitting on the bed opposite of her own bed, which she sat on, allowing them to face each other.

“Last night, in the medbay, Anaxis and I started talking, and I asked why he was so hesitant about…  _ this, _ ” Zex said, gesturing vaguely around the  _ Beggar _ . “I said it was supposed to be our dream to be doing something like this, and he said it… wasn’t  _ his _ dream.”

Nan merely listened, saying nothing, nodding along as Zex spoke, taking in his words.

“I thought, till he said that, he was just held up by his mom,” Zex went on, “but it’s… it’s more than that, he’s been  _ lying _ to me about what he really wants all these years. I always wanted to make a  _ difference _ , I wanted to  _ be someone _ , and I thought he wanted that, too, but… apparently he just wanted  _ me _ .”

“Is that so wrong?” Nan questioned.

“I mean… kind of?” Zex said. “He never wanted to be a rebel, or a part of a  _ cause _ , he just wanted to do whatever I was doing.”

“And what are you doing, if not being a part of a cause?” Nan asked.

“Well… nothing, I guess. I  _ am _ being part of a cause,” Zex replied.

“Then if Anaxis desires to do whatever you do, then that requires him to also be a part of the cause,” Nan concluded.

“But it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t  _ believe _ in the cause,” Zex countered. “It isn’t  _ real _ , it’s just a lie to be with me.”

“It is good that you value sincerity - too many of my own people fail to appreciate it the way you do,” Nan remarked. “But I wonder this - are you more hurt that Anaxis would follow a flag only because you fly it, or that you thought he’d be flying it, too, only to be proven wrong?”

“Uh… the second one, I guess,” Zex answered, a little turned around by the cryptic wording. He thought Kel was the Jedi here - but Nan was sounding wiser than… a really… wise Jedi. Zex wasn’t really known for his mastery of figurative language.

“Then three things may happen from here,” Nan explained. “First, perhaps you must accept that Anaxis does not care about your cause, and embrace him all the same. Second, perhaps Anaxis must find a  _ reason  _ to care about your cause, and embrace that cause himself. Third,” she paused for a moment, “perhaps you two must accept that you are not for each other.”

“...I… really don’t like that third option…” Zex responded slowly, feeling his blood run a little cold with anxiety.

“Then you must pursue one of the other two,” Nan concluded. You have the most power to pursue the first, but I feel you’d be happier with the second, which you have no real influence over.”

“So… what should I do?” Zex asked. Nan smiled, and stood, going to open the door.

“Finish fixing our engines, that’s a good place to start,” she said simply. “The rest will come to you in time. Do not try to chase answers - let them come to you. That’s a saying among my people.”

Zex looked down and frowned for a moment, but stood up all the same, and gave Nan a friendly smile, thought it carried a touch of the same sadness from the frown. “Thanks. For helping me think this through.”

“Of course, Zex,” Nan replied. “I know they are not answers you wished to hear, but I hope they brought clarity to you.”

“They did,” Zex said, though he wasn’t entirely sure how much clarity they really brought. “I’ll see you around, Nan.”

“Yes, you shall. Now go - those engines won’t fix themselves,” she joked. Zex smiled at her before making his way back to the engine room. Upon arriving, he gave a look at the diagnostic screen - and noticed the ionic amperage was  _ especially _ off, which suggested that the ion transformer in the primary array wasn’t working properly, which meant… eureka!  _ That’s _ what the issue’s been!

Well, if his love life was left a little foggy, at least his technical thinking was crystal clear again.


	40. An Issue of Trust

Kel and Kane walked together by themselves towards Khoonda’s brig. It was somewhat awkward, considering the air of tension sparking between the two of them. Kel didn’t like that air; he knew Kane was cross with him, and it made him uneasy. They were close friends, maybe the closest each other had to best friends. He resolved that perhaps some clear communication might help the situation.

“You do know I trust you, right?” Kel asked, breaking the silent walk.

“Don’t, Kel,” was all Kane said in response.

“I just don’t want you to think anything has changed between us,” he continued.

At that, Kane stopped and turned to him, her duster fluttering behind her with the ferocity of her turning as she took her large-brimmed hat off of her head, a sure way of knowing she was mad.

“Four years we’ve been on the same crew,” she hissed. “Four damn years blasting TIEs, dodging Imps, and dealing with Three. All that time, you never _once_ doubted my instincts. Nar Shaddaa, Ruusan, Iridonia, has my gut saved our skins?”

“More times than I can count, but-” Kel tried to start, but Kane wasn’t finished.

“And now we’re here, and suddenly, I’m just being paranoid!” She continued, backing Kel against the wall slowly. “Was I being paranoid when it turned out we had Hutt-backed bounty hunters tailing us from Bothawui to Rishi? Or when I said the Imps were onto our little operation on Sleheyron?”

“Kane, calm down,” Kel requested, but Kane was having none of it.

“I’ll calm down, alright,” she said, jabbing him with a finger, “but not before you get it through your ferrocrete skull that something has _definitely_ changed between us, and it’s on _your_ end, bub. You want me to stop being pissed? You ask yourself why you’re suddenly not on my side.”

With that, she simply turned fiercely and continued walking down the corridor, hat still in hand. Kel watched her go, dumbfounded for a moment. He hadn’t seen her so fired up against him since they first met.

“Kane, I _am_ on your side,” he continued, walking to catch up with her. “I trust you, I really do, but you’re looking for intrigue where there is none. This isn’t Nar Shaddaa or Bothawui or Corellia,” he pointed out. “Dantooine isn’t a place where things change or shift around. Snow falls and melts, crops grow and wither, and everything stays the same.”

Kane merely shook her head and glared at Kel. “You really think, after everything that’s happened these past ten years, there’s a single place in the galaxy that’s safe from change?”

Kel remained silent.

“Grow up, Kel,” Kane chastised. “Weren’t the Jedi always talking about how everything echoes out?”

“That was me,” Kel corrected. “Well, me quoting teachings the Jedi found heretical.”

“Well, we both know the Jedi were full of shit,” Kane continued. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter right now. We’ve got an interrogation to run.”

“This conversation isn’t over,” Kel emphasized.

“Believe me, Kel,” she retorted as they reached the door leading to the brig. “I know.”


	41. Interrogation

Kane opened up the brig door without fuss. She didn’t want to let Kel get another word in. As she walked in, she took note of the layout - they were in a monitoring room, with a window that allowed visual monitoring of the cell block, as well as video monitors to view each cell’s interior. The cells were force-shielded, she saw, and only one was occupied - the one they threw their Mandalorian friend in the night before. She also noticed the far side of the room had lockers and bins, probably for contraband. Finally, there were only two guards on duty in the room - too few if the prisoner broke out, but Khoonda probably didn’t have many to spare. Then again, maybe the guard shortage was intentional...

“I’m sorry,” one guard said, “this area is off-limits to civilians.”

“We’re expected, sis,” Kane retorted. “We’re here to chat with Miss Pissy over there.”

“Oh,” the guard acknowledged, noticing Kel behind Kane. “You’re with the Code 5. Yeah, alright, let me unlock the cell block door,” she said, working on the terminal she sat in front of. “Might take a sec, the system’s pretty slow.”

“What exactly are the security precautions here?” Kel inquired. The other guard, an Iridonian, answered.

“The cell is force shielded, so she’s stuck in there,” he explained. “If the shield fails for whatever reason - and it’d take a grid-wide outage for that to happen, or a top-level security clearance override - then the door is magnetically sealed. Only way to open it while the force shielding is down is with the keycard, which is kept in the administrator’s office.”

“And if the magnetic seal is broken?” Kane asked. The Iridonian shrugged.

“We bring in whatever guards we can and try to stop the breakout,” he answered. “We’ve never really had to worry about anything worse than someone who drank too much or maybe a no-name bandit.”

“Well, look alive, because you’ve got a professional in there now,” Kane warned, staring at the girl. She was wearing a generic prisoner outfit now; Kane could see the black tattoos running up and down both her arms now. She recognized them as bounty hunter tattoos; not very typical for a Mandalorian to have anything but their own clan’s marks. Maybe she wasn’t much of a traditionalist - or much of a Mandalorian.

“We’re not too worried,” the guard at the terminal said. “We’ve locked her arms and armor in the security barracks.”

“We get any ID on her?” Kane asked, curious. “Name, homeworld, anything?”

“Nothing,” the monitor guard asked. “She came to this morning, wouldn’t say anything to us.”

“Well,” Kel said. “We can be fairly persuasive.”

“I bet,” the Iridonian muttered. Kane flashed a smirk at him.

“How much?” She asked. He looked at her, confused.

“No gambling on interrogation, Kane,” Kel admonished. She shot a glare at him. Normally she’d banter along, but she was still mad at him. Did he think having a little chat in the hall would fix everything? For an ex-Jedi, the man was seriously dense in the head. Maybe if he waited until they were in private and could actually talk it out - but no, he decided to have a _hallway_ chat. One day she’d have to find him a holocron about how to effectively communicate through a tense situation.

“There we go,” the guard said, to the sound of the door on the far side of the monitoring room opening. “Take your time. Nobody’s in any rush.”

“We appreciate it,” Kel thanked.

“Last chance,” Kane joked at the Iridonian. “Fifty creds say I can get her name.”

“Twenty,” the Iridonian said, smiling in good spirits.

“Deal,” Kane agreed, slipping her hat back on as she walking into the cell block with Kel, who barely suppressed the rolling of his eyes.

They walked together until they stood in front of the occupied cell. The girl sat on the far side, leaning her back against the back wall, staring at them contemptuously. She had short hair, though longer than Kane’s, and it was pulled back into a small, tight ponytail, dark in color. A tuft of hair was free from the ponytail, though, and it was a deep red in color. She had a small scar along her jaw, Kane noticed, probably from a knife. She was certainly muscular, but her mass was diminished by a lack of nourishment. All in all, Kane figured she was young and impulsive, had a bit of a rebel streak, and probably didn’t have a good living situation, maybe on the run from mom and dad, or orphaned. She definitely didn’t come by much food.

“Gonna dig around my brain?” She asked plainly. “I hear Jedi like to pick around in your mind.”

“I told you,” Kel said. “I’m not a Jedi.”

“Hmph. You’re pretty good with those sabers for someone who isn’t a Jedi,” she retorted dryly. Kane could tell instantly Kel wasn’t going to get anywhere with her.

“He’s a hobbyist,” Kane quipped back. “But judging by all that hardware you were packing last night, you’re a professional.”

She crossed her arms at that. “Guessing by that big ass hat and duster you’re some kind of smuggler. How many different kinds of toys you got packed in that jacket?”

“Enough to land me in Imperial prison for a few years,” she replied. The girl nodded respectfully at that, then turned her attention back to Kel.

“Not as many years as those sabers, I’d guess,” she said. “You sure you don’t want to unload those things?”

“I’m quite attached, thank you,” Kel answered.

“Spoken like a true Jedi. Sorry, like a fake Jedi,” the girl joked.

“What’s your name, kid?” Kane asked.

“Not a kid,” she replied firmly, her posture tensing up.

“Then how old are you?” Kel asked. The girl rolled her eyes and relaxed again.

“I’m not stupid,” she stated. “I’m not telling you guys anything. Like you said, captain, I’m a professional.”

“What makes you think she’s a captain?” Kel inquired. Kane rolled her eyes.

“I think that’s kind of obvious,” Kane answered for her, before turning her attention back to the girl. She figured there was one language this kid spoke better than others. “How about we make a deal?”

That got her attention, certainly. “What kind of deal?”

“Let’s start small,” Kane said. “What do you want for your name?”

The girl narrowed her eyes. Kane stared back at her. Kel was about to speak up, but Kane cut him off with a gesture, not breaking eye contact with the girl. It wasn’t obvious to Kel’s untrained eye, but Kane knew criminals, she knew desperate youths. This girl wasn’t hesitating. She was weighing options.

“How’d you get me?” She asked. “I was moving fast enough that I should’ve been out of range for any blaster shot. What landed me?”

“Why would we-” Kel started, but Kane ignored him.

“We’ve got a sniper,” she said without hesitation. “A damned good one. Best shot at long range I’ve ever seen, not so good in a firefight, though.”

“Can I meet them?” the girl asked.

“That’s another deal to be made,” Kane warned. “You gotta make good on Deal Number 1 first before we get there.”

The girl smiled. “Call me Vex. Go ahead and look it up, I already know what you’ll find.”

Kane smiled back. “Pleasure doing business with you. Kel, mind running that through the holonet?” She asked. Kel had his arms crossed, and she could tell he had something he wanted to say, but he wisely kept it to himself before walking out without another word.

“Is he your boyfriend?” Vex asked. “Never heard of a Jedi being whipped, but there’s a first time for everything.”

“Nah,” Kane told her. “He just knows this is my game more than his. So,” she said, “I bring that sniper in, and you tell me what you’re doing on Dantooine?”

Vex laughed. “Don’t bother asking me that one. Nothing’s gonna convince me to bother telling you.”

Kane raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean, ‘bother’ telling me?”

Vex shook her head, smiling. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Kane leaned in, almost touching the force shielding. “Vex, I dare you,” she challenged, “try me.”


	42. Reconvening

Some time later, the crew of the  _ Hopeful Beggar _ reconvened in the ship, Zex seated near Nan as H2, Sli, and Anaxis all walked in.

“Where’s Kel?” Anaxis asked. “He’s the one who messaged us all to meet up here.”

“Right here,” Kel answered, walking in from the cockpit corridor. “Kane isn’t here yet?”

“No, I thought she was with you,” Nan answered.

“She was, but stayed behind to continue questioning the Mandalorian girl,” Kel explained. “I didn’t see her on my way over. She must be-”

“Right behind you,” Kane finished his sentence, walking in on cue before plopping on the seating by the table, putting her boots up as she doffed her big hat. “All present and accounted for?”

“So it seems,” Kel responded. “Kane and I have learned a few things about the young woman who attacked last night. The name she gave us was Vex - I looked her up, and she seems to be a rising star in the criminal world,” he explained. “I wasn’t able to uncover too much beyond some impressive work for her age, but I didn’t find any record of bounty hunter licensure with the Empire.”

“What kind of work?” Nan inquired.

“A few bounties, some heists, a bit of piracy,” he answered.

“Doesn’t sound like a rising star,” Nan remarked. “Sounds petty.”

“Except the piracy included raiding Imperial transports,” Kel clarified. “And she’s stolen from a Moff.”

“A  _ Moff _ ?” Anaxis spat out, unable to hold it back. Stealing from a regional governor of the Empire took iron will and a sharp skillset. The fact that someone, at all, let alone as young as Vex seemed to be, managed to pull it off, was very impressive. “She stole from a Moff?!”

“Woah…” Zex remarked. “How old is?

“Records I’ve found indicate she’s about your age,” Kel answered.

“Bad. Ass.” Zex stated.

“That’s all we know about her right now,” Kel concluded, looking over at Kane. “Unless you’ve got anything else?”

Kane stared at him, then shook her head. “No. But she is willing to chat some more and negotiate more deals,” she said. “Sli, you’ve got to visit her some time. Bring H2 so you can actually chat. She wanted to meet the sniper that took her down.”

“Ugudu,” Sli chittered apathetically.

“Sli agrees,” H2 translated.

“Nan, will you-” Kel started, but was cut off.

“I’ll ask around about her,” Nan finished. “A record like that, I should be able to dig some things up. My contacts are busy, though, so it may take some time.”

“Understandable,” Kel said. “We’re in no real rush.”

“Aren’t we worried about what someone like her is doing her?” Zex asked.

“Yeah,” Anaxis concurred. “She could bring some really, really unwanted attention, couldn’t she?”

“Only if the Empire learns she’s here,” Kel figured. “And if that becomes the case, we’ll deal with it accordingly.”

“Deal with it how, exactly?” Anaxis pressed.

“We’ll have to call it by ear,” Kel explained.

“We might jump world, might go underground, might fight back and  _ then _ jump world,” Kane listed. “Lots of possibilities.”

“What would we do with her?” Zex asked.

“That depends on her,” Kel answered. “This is all a moot point until there’s an Imperial ship in orbit, anyway. There’s no point planning for it - especially when such plans often fall apart.”

“So do you guys always just wing it?” Anaxis asked.

“We were winging it on Maran,” Kane joked. “I’d say it turned out alright.”

“We plan for the big things,” Nan assured. “But we’re getting off topic. On my end of things, I’ve made a call to a cousin of mine to cast out some nets and ask some questions about Dantooine, any recent activity surrounding it. Just to be safe.”

“Of course,” Kel sighed. It was obvious he wasn’t happy with the distrust of the planet, but he wasn’t going to rehash the conversation now. “Anything else?”

“I’ve got the engines patched up,” Zex spoke up. “They should be running just fine. I want to do some more work on them, though, they seem like they could use a tune up. Depending on what kind of stuff I can find here, I might be able to give them a little extra something, too.”

“Sounds good,” Kel said. “Anaxis? Sli?”

“We took inventory,” Anaxis said. “Everything checks out, but we’re kind of low on food.”

“We’ll be able to get more from the locals,” Kel dismissed. “H2?”

“I have successfully patched our communications array into the local network,” H2 reported. “My own wireless communication channel has been tuned to the ship’s. Once there is another illicit accessing of the security network, or other events of note, we will be aware of it.”

“Then it seems the only thing left to do now is wait,” Kel decided.

“Great,” Kane complained. “Now I’ve got to find something to fill my time with. How long are we going to be here, H2?”

“Impossible to ascertain,” H2 answered. “Considering the frequency of incoming ships to Dantooine, I predict several weeks, at least. Potentially months.”

Kane made an audible groaning sound as she rubbed her temples. The rest of them seemed unfazed, taking the news in stride. It was their plan to stick around so long anyway, but Kane was hopeful that  _ some _ kind of action would come up to make things interesting.

“We’ll use our time wisely,” Kel stated. “Find odd jobs, make some money. While we’re waiting on the next pirate raid we can keep tabs on the rest of galaxy, start making plans for when we’re off-world again. It’d also be good to spend some time training,” he paused, glancing at Zex, and then Anaxis. “Sharpshooters need whetting to stay sharp, after all,” he continued. It was evident he was making sure no one thought he just meant Force training.

“H2,” Kane piped up wearily, “start the counter.”

“The counter?” Zex asked.

“A running tally of the time we have spent idling without specific purpose,” H2 answered. “Captain Fel’dar is fond of using it as an amusing method of keeping track of time. Initiating counter. It has been… zero days, zero hours, zero minutes, and seven seconds since we engaged idle mode…”


	43. The Count

_ “...it has been eight days, fifteen hours, twelve minutes, thirty-two seconds since we engaged idle mode…” _

_ Phew phew! Phew! _

“Focus.”

“I’m trying.”

“That’s the problem.”

Kane and Anaxis had been meeting like this in the afternoon, when the least dangerous wildlife was out, to go out for target practice. It was by great technicality ‘hunting’, but only Kane was really hunting anything. Anaxis was more learning to shoot a blaster in a more advanced way than pointing at the bad guys and pulling the trigger. It hadn’t been a very successful endeavor for him so far; he couldn’t get the blaster bolts to obey him. He turned to Kane, having finally lost his patience after a week of similar exchanged about his need to focus.

“How is a problem if I’m trying to focus? Every day, that’s what you always tell me to do,” He snapped.

Kane was unimpressed by his lack of discipline. “Because you don’t  _ try _ to focus. If you  _ try _ to focus, then what you’re doing is thinking about how you need to focus, instead of actually focusing.”

Anaxis rolled his eyes, looking back at the herd of animals racing away from him, taking aim to try knocking one down before it got out of range. “You might as well tell me there’s no such thing as  _ trying _ at all.”

“Naxis,” Kane uttered. “Remember. Marksmanship isn’t just aiming. It’s discipline.”

_ Phew phew! _

Two missed shots.

“You didn’t control your breath,” she noted, “among other errors. Like not controlling your trigger finger, not committing to the target, not committing to the shot…”

“I committed!” Anaxis swore. If he hadn’t missed so much and been admonished with the same corrections for a week, he’d be more patient. But this was getting to be too much.

“No, you didn’t,” Kane contradicted. “Your barrel shifted at the last second and I saw your eye twitch when your finger jerked back on the trigger.”

“So I’m a little jittery,” he responded. “That’s what practice is for.”

“It’s more than that, Anaxis,” Kane corrected. “You need to have your body  _ and _ mind working together. For every shot. Every single one. If you’ve got doubt, if you’ve got distraction, you’re a goner.”

Anaxis merely sighed and shook his head, not willing to argue about it. “Right, right… let’s just move on…”

* * *

 

“… _ eight days, twenty-one hours, fifteen minutes, sixteen seconds…” _

“You’re distracted.”

“A little.”

“More than a little. You’re thinking about the engines again.”

Kel and Zex had both agreed to meet in the evening time after dinner for a pre-bedtime meditation and training session on the roof of Khoonda’s admin center. Zex thought he’d learn more about the Force, and maybe get around to moving things, but so far it was just a lot of idle chit-chatting about their days and then sitting around for an hour. At the very least he didn’t feel more of that heart-wrenching coldness that dripped down from the sky. The pain of a galaxy…

“Can’t help it,” Zex shrugged, still not opening his eyes. “I’ve got a lot of ideas for them.”

“Those ideas can wait for another time,” Kel explained. “Now is the time to be still.”

“Isn’t that bedtime?” Zex asked, only being somewhat snarky.

“Bedtime is the time to rest,” Kel shrugged. “Meditation is a time to be quiet and still in a galaxy that is full of noise and motion.”

“But doesn’t that mean we’re always full of noise and motion, too?” Zex philosophized. Kel chuckled.

“And meditation is learning to find stillness and silence between the noise and motion,” Kel replied. “If you can do that, you can accomplish anything.”

“I don’t know,” Zex said, “I’m not very well known for being still and silent.”

“Then you have room to improve,” Kel retorted. “Now hush up and start improving.”

* * *

 

_ “It has been thirteen days, seventeen hours, forty-two minutes, seventeen seconds…” _

“I got one!” Anaxis exclaimed, overjoyed at his kill as the rest of the herd dashed away. His smile melted away as his mark limped back up and began dashing away, as well. He fired more at it, but couldn’t put even a crippling shot on it. Kane smiled all the same.

“We’ll count that as a half. Still better than nothing,” she remarked. Anaxis sighed and slumped to the ground, leaning against a rock, tossing his blaster pistol aside.

“I don’t know what I’m doing wrong… almost two weeks, and I’ve barely gotten any kills,” he lamented.

“You’re definitely improving, kid,” Kane assured, hands on her hips. “No point beating yourself up.”

“It motivates me,” Anaxis shrugged. Kane frowned at that.

“Doesn’t look like it,” she observed. “You’re on the ground without a gun in your hand. Trust me kid, self-destruction doesn’t lead to self-construction.”

“Well, self-construction hasn’t been doing much for me. Might as well try something different,” he replied. “I’m sorry about the other day. When I snapped at you about… focusing and stuff.”

“Hardly registered as snapping to me,” Kane chuckled. “Where I come from snapping involves more shots being fired and bar stools breaking.”

Anaxis merely smiled for a moment at that, before looking away solemnly. Kane raised an eyebrow before seating herself next to Anaxis, tilting her hat back.

“There’s something going on,” she stated simply. Anaxis didn’t say anything, but she knew it was true by his expression. “C’mon, kid, we’ve been shooting the prairie up for two weeks, you can talk to me.”

Anaxis paused. She knew that look. Same as Vex had in the cell. Weighing options.

“Zex and I had a fight,” Anaxis finally said. “A bad one. And we haven’t really had a chance to talk every since.”

“When was this? Before the count started?” Kane guessed.

“Yeah,” Anaxis confirmed. “We’ve been out here and he’s been busy with the engines and doing his jobs around Khoonda ever since, and I’m just… I don’t know where we stand.”

“What happened?” Kane asked. She normally wasn’t one to pry (interrogate, sure, but prying was Nan’s field), but she had known  _ something _ was bothering Anaxis for some time. He was completely unfocused and as his ‘snap’ shown, temperamental. No matter how much advice she gave on centering himself and committing and focusing, he could never exist within the moment of the shot. Something outside his sights was gnawing at his mind and he wasn’t going to improve his marksmanship until he resolved it.

“I…” Anaxis paused, sighed, then continued. “I admitted to him that I didn’t want to be a rebel.”

“Huh…” Kane remarked. “You don’t have to stick around with us, you know,” she reminded. “We can get you a shuttle away from here.”

“Uh… I… think I’ll stick around, thanks,” Anaxis replied. He hadn’t expected Kane to be so nonchalant about hearing that. He thought she’d be more insulted or betrayed. Instead she was genuinely offering to help him. And to be fair to Kel, for all his Jedi weirdness, he also made it clear Anaxis could leave whenever…

“I just don’t want to leave Zex,” he clarified. He didn’t want her to think he was ready to commit to a rebel’s life. “But he was so angry when he found out that was all I wanted.”

“Kid’s got a real rebel’s heart,” Kane said. “I don’t blame him for getting hot-headed that you’re not all in with the cause.”

“I just… don’t know how to make it better,” Anaxis said quietly. Kane took a deep breath and took off her hat.

“Kid, I’m not in the business of beating around the bush. You can’t make this better,” she stated plainly. “Not without Zex deciding not to care that you’re not in this to be in it, not without you deciding to be in it, to be in it.”

“What if neither happen?” Anaxis sadly inquired. Kane put her hat back on.

“You want my advice kid? Talk to Zex,” she said, getting up. “He’s the one you’re worried about.”

“But we’re both so busy, and I don’t even know if he wants to talk to me…” Anaxis argued.

“If he’s worth your trouble, he’ll want to talk, and he’ll make the time. And if you’re worth his,” she began to walk away, moving on with the hunt as he scrambled to follow, “then you’ll do the same.”

* * *

 

_ “...Thirteen days, twenty-two hours, nineteen minutes, two seconds…” _

“You’re thinking about the engines again,” Kel complained.

“I was only distracted for a second!” Zex countered.

“That’s probably the hundredth second you’ve been distracted for the past hundred seconds,” Kel deadpanned.

Zex was becoming less and less willing to deal with Kel’s slow pace of teaching. In all the time they had spent together they had only meditated. No more wise lessons, no more reaching out, just sitting silently.

He took in a deep breath. “Sorry. I can’t keep my mind clear.”

“So it seems,” Kel observed patiently. “Want to air out some of those thoughts?”

“You wanna hear more about the engines?” Zex quipped.

“I want to hear about that little stare-off between you and Anaxis at dinner,” Kel said. “First time you’ve had a chance to eat at the same time as him and it goes by without a word.”

Zex sighed and looked away. “Things are tense between us right now.”

“I can tell that,” Kel said. “Care to talk about it?”

“I already talked to Nan about it,” Zex assured. “It’s fine.”

“Evidently not,” Kel retorted. “You’ve made negligible progress these past two weeks. Something is troubling you.”

“I just… really wish Anaxis was here. Training with us,” Zex admitted.

“He’s training with Kane,” Kel reminded.

“I know, but I wish he was training with  _ us _ ,” Zex clarified. “I wish he was  _ committed _ . He told me he apparently never wanted to be a part of a cause, even though it sure seemed that way for a long time.”

“Hmm…” Kel hummed. “Do you remember the night we were attacked by Vex? When you began your training?”

“Of course,” Zex assured.  _ How can I forget the night I felt a galaxy’s pain in my heart… _

“Do you remember what I said about how, if Anaxis wanted to go a different way, you ought to respect it, as he should respect your way?” Kel asked.

“Yeah…” Zex said sadly. It wasn’t very comforting wisdom.

“There is an addendum I ought to have made to that,” Kel said. “Which is that, when two souls linked at the heart part paths… if they are truly connected, then those paths will reunite.”

“What do you mean?” Zex asked, uncertain.

“I mean that you and Anaxis are not walking such different roads. And that you are not as far apart as you think. If you want to be with him, he’s just downstairs,” Kel advised. He seemed to be avoiding giving a straight answer. As usual.

“I don’t think he really wants to see me right now…” Zex figured. Not after he was so furious with him.

“Suit yourself,” Kel remarked, a tiny edge of impatience in his voice. “Like I said… if you want to connect with him, to be with him… he’s not that far away.”

* * *

 

_ “It has been twenty-one days, twenty hours, thirty-two minutes, and fifty-six seconds…” _

_ Talk to him talk to him talk to him… _

Prolonged suggestions tend to turn to commands from mentors who know exactly what is holding their pupils back. And commands tend to be executed more promptly.

The boy with the white hair and the boy with the black hair meet at a late dinner. It’s the first prolonged contact they’ve had together in their waking hours.

“Zex… are we… are we OK?” The one asks.

It begins a long conversation. A hard conversation. It takes an hour before they get past the awkward uncertainty. Another hour is sacrificed on the altar of misdirected anger and frustration. Finally, they talk. Really talk. Truths and feelings are brought to the light, and they are both made the lighter of heart for it.

It’s difficult. But an understanding is reached. Promises are made. Compromises reached.

A bond that never disappeared is rediscovered.

Meanwhile, two who have walked this road before have a quiet celebration of this achievement between their students, and retread the old paths as they, too, recall to themselves the bond they share.

“Kane… I trust you.”

“...I know, Kel.”

* * *

 

_ “It has been forty-three days, sixteen hours…” _

_ Phew phew! _

A kill. Took two shots, but both hit.

All he had to do was focus.

* * *

 

_ “It has been forty-five days, twenty hours…” _

Silence and stillness on the rooftop in the moonlight.

* * *

 

_ “It has been one hundred and twenty-two days…” _

Both masters agree. Both students are ready.


	44. The Cave

_ “It has been hundred and twenty-three days--” _

“Will you power it down, already?” Nan complained, walking into the main hold of the  _ Beggar _ . “Every day for three months you’ve just randomly announced the count without prompting. You can take a break. We don’t need to hear it every damn day.”

“Deactivating the relevant protocol,” H2 answered, an impossible edge of irritation on his voice.

“Heard anything back from your cousin, Nan?” Zex asked, wiping himself clean of grease as he walked in from the engine room. He’s been working wonders on the engines; between the credits he’s been bringing in from his odd jobs and the man-hours he’s put into the ship, he’d more than been pulling his weight. Simulations showed the ship moving 6% faster and maneuvering 3.6% easier. Even Kane was impressed by how capable he was.

“He’ll be reporting in soon,” she assured.

“Give him my regards,” Zex asked, donning his jacket.

“And where are you off to?” Nan inquired. “It’s too early for your training with Kel.”

“He said we’re going somewhere today,” Zex answered. “Some kind of trip. It’ll take a little while to get there, he said.”

“Where are you going?” She asked. Ever the mother.

“He didn’t say, just that it was a ‘new step in my training’ or something,” Zex answered, uncertain. She could hear the excitement in his voice, though. She knew how eager he was for more training. He and Kel both complained about it to her.

“Well, that’s certainly exciting. Be safe,” she implored.

“I’ll be with Kel, of course I’ll be safe,” he replied, heading out of the ship.

Nan snorted at the idea of “being with Kel” being at all close to being safe.

Zex made wide strides as he travelled to the outskirts of Khoonda where Kel told him they’d meet up. He was beyond ready for this. He didn’t even care if it was just walking somewhere else to meditate. He was learning to enjoy meditation, anyway. But he secretly hoped he’d get to see something cool. Or maybe move something!

It wasn’t until he was just a few strides away from Kel that he realized he wasn’t alone. And the company made him pause a moment in confusion.

“Anaxis?” He asked. His boyfriend seemed to be confused, as well.

“Zex? Are you going with us, too?” Anaxis asked. Kane - whom Zex hadn’t noticed, being so fixated on Anaxis - chuckled.

“Yeah, he’s coming with us,” she answered. 

“One big happy family field trip,” Kel joked along.

Zex raised an eyebrow. He picked up a pretty major shift in chemistry between Kel and Kane. Did they work out their issues, too?

“Where, exactly, are we going?” Anaxis asked. “I figured Kane was taking me out exploring, or something.”

“And I thought Kel and I were going out for Force training,” Zex added.

“Both,” Kel and Kane answered at the same time, before looking at each other. Kel continued for the two of them. “Kane and I decided that it would benefit all of us if we went out on this expedition together. It’s a new step for both of you.”

“What, is Zex learning to shoot?” Anaxis asked, a little caustically. He still hadn’t gotten over his instinctive distrust of Kel, but he did regret adding the edge of disdain to his voice then. It seemed like everyone was getting along now, and he didn’t want to ruin that.

“I think you’ll find the two of you have been walking more similar paths than you might’ve thought,” Kel said cryptically.

“Come on,” Kane ordered. “It’s better to go and see it than stand around talking about it.”

With that, she began walking off, as Kel followed. The two students looked at each other; Zex merely shrugged and started walking off with them. Anaxis sighed to himself, wondering what kind of ‘family field trip’ this was going to be, before following as well.

The walk was rather quiet, though Kane and Kel chatted every now and again, talking about the wildlife, comparing to other worlds they’d been to together. Zex wondered how much the two of them had gone through together. They mentioned worlds he hadn’t ever heard of, referenced people and places and things he’d never known about. He couldn’t help but feel hope in his heart at the idea of having a life like that; nor could he help but to take his boyfriend’s hand at the thought of sharing that life with him. A life spent making the galaxy a better place to live. In his state of bliss he could feel something similar to that first night, when he felt the pain of the universe, but this was… kinder. More local. He could feel the way everything around his was connected, the flow of energy from sun to air to wind to grass to ground.

Anaxis was more focused on the physical aspect of the area surrounding them. He kept an alert watch for kath hounds and any other predators in the brush, especially as they got further away from Khoonda and more into the wilds. This was the furthest they had gone from the settlement, and he couldn’t help but keep his ears out and his mind focused. Every breeze, every sound, felt more… real. More present. More immediate. Not just that, he could almost feel how every motion led to other motion.

Kel sensed the Force budding behind him like a young flower, and smiled. Kane saw this smile, and smiled as well. Their estimations weren’t too far off - the boys were ready after all.

“We’re here,” Kel announced.

They had walked for nearly an hour to a large grove in the prairies, carved into which was a cave, which they now stood at the mouth of. It was still a long time since dusk, but the sunlight didn’t pierce too far into the cave, and it was hard to see much inside. But there was definitely a faint light coming out from within, from a few select places, like there were dim lanterns hung up inside that were shining. It seemed to Anaxis and Zex that there was a cool breeze coming from the cave’s mouth, but Anaxis noticed how their clothing and the grass around them was still - no airflow.

“What is this place?” Zex asked.

“A cave,” Kel answered.

“A special cave,” Kane added. Anaxis was surprised. Kane usually didn’t play along with Kel’s cryptics.

“What’s so special about it?” Anaxis pushed.

“It’s strong in the Force,” Zex answered. “I can feel it.”

“It is,” Kel confirmed. “My master brought me here long ago, when I was a Padawan. It’s a place where the Force energy of this world bundles up like a knot, or a tangle. The ancient Jedi would’ve considered this place sacred.”

“Why am I here?” Anaxis asked. “I thought I wasn’t part of this whole Jedi training stuff.”

“This will help with your shooting, too,” Kane promised. Anaxis looked at her, could sense something about her, a certain… hopefulness? Tenseness? Tense hopefulness… innocent deceptiveness.

It clicked to him that he was reading her emotions.

“You’ve been Force training me,” he realized. “This whole time. Every shooting lesson, all about committing, and reaching out, and focusing… you were teaching me to use the Force…” he pieced together.

“Only as much as I do,” Kane clarified. “You wanted to learn to shoot, and shoot well, so I taught you. No Jedi nonsense, just blasters and sharpshooting.”

Anaxis wondered if he should’ve been angry. But considering he was here, with Zex, standing in front of this cave… he had after all improved his shooting, and frankly, he felt…  _ good _ here. Besides, this was some kind of ancient holy site. He couldn’t deny he was at least curious.

“Well… if it will help with my shooting…” Was all Anaxis said.

“Why are here, anyway?” Zex asked. “What is in there?”

“Us, what we bring with us, and the gifts of the Force,” Kel said. “You’ll see. Let’s step inside, shall we?”

The group began to venture into the cavern, and Kel lit his golden lightsaber to light the way for them. As they walked further in, it became more clear that the faint lighting was coming from gently glowing crystals. Kel paused by one of the crystal veins and examined it.

“Hm… odd, there seems to be imperfections…” He remarked.

“What are these? Force crystals?” Anaxis asked, jokingly.

“Yeah, actually,” Kane explained. “They’re part of why we came here. They form in Force-rich places, and they carry some of that power with them.”

“They are useful for enhancing Force powers,” Kel added. “It seems there is some manner of corruption afflicting these crystals, though. Perhaps further within the cave they will be more pure.”

“What kind of corruption? Dark side stuff?” Zex asked.

“Perhaps,” Kel replied. “We’ll have to look into it later. For now, let us venture further in and see if we can’t find better crystals-”

“Anaxis, where are you going?” Kane interrupted.

Anaxis, while they were talking, had already begun to walk further in the cave. Something felt strange to him. Like he had forgotten something at home, except it wasn’t at home, it was deeper in the cave. He felt compelled to find it, like it was important to him.

“There’s something in there…” Zex whispered, following after Anaxis, equally transfixed. Both seemed perfectly bold enough to walk through the darkness of the cave before Kel caught up with his lightsaber.

“Seen this before?” Kane asked.

“Once,” Kel answered. “When I came here and found two crystals that seemed to call out to me.”

“What happened to them?” Kane pried.

“They’re currently inside my lightsabers,” he replied.

The group travelled further into the cave, the boys in a mystified daze as they almost absentmindedly walked ahead, before entering into an opening which was surprisingly well lit. It was an antechamber filled with crystals, all glowing dimly, but the large amount of them made their combined light almost like sunshine. They were all different colors, too - blue, green, yellow, shades between them.

The boys were overwhelmed by the ripples of power coursing in the air. Like standing in front of a ship’s engine without the heat or radiation. Both came to neighboring veins, one green and one blue, and noticed it was oddly entangled, with some of their crystals interlocking with the other’s. The two looked at each other, then at the vein.

Kel held his breath as they both reached out to set their hands on their respective veins - Anaxis on the green, Zex on the blue.

For Anaxis, the sensation was like grabbing a power cable, except it wasn’t violent or painful, it was… passionate, coarse, more like a desperate embrace than a grapple. He wanted to fight it for a moment, but the resistance passed away as he felt the power coursing through him, like his entire body was waking up to the real world. He felt like he could do anything. The possibilities, the potential, the power… it was all intoxicating. It was like he was aiming down the sights on a target and doing everything right, felt command over his body, his blaster, over his target’s very life, all with crystal clear awareness of all of that. He held onto that sensation and pried a crystal from the stone wall and held it in his hand. It didn’t feel like he was grabbing a power cable now, but something in him was changed. He was awake now, and he couldn’t imagine ever going back to sleep.

But for Zex, it was different. It was quiet. Like everything had become still, and there was only him and his breath and his heart. He could feel everything around him, like all his senses and some new ones were really coming into focus for the first time. But it also felt like the rest of his body was lost in all of this new information, like he was just a mind floating in space. It was subtle, but overwhelming in its subtleness. He almost numbly plucked a crystal away from the rock and felt his body become real again, but the awareness remained, and from the vast expansive awareness came a vision, of a place, not far, crying out, calling for him, begging for his attention, begging for him to come, screaming in his ear, pleading for its life…

Anaxis crouched down and placed his hands on Zex’s shoulder as Zex slumped down onto the ground. Kane and Kel rushed over to check on him.

“Zex? Zex, what is it, what’s wrong?” Anaxis asked. He quietly vowed that if Kel had gotten Zex hurt again, he’d-

“I”m fine, I’m fine,” Zex promised, standing again. “That was just… a lot.”

“Those crystals were calling for you,” Kel explained. “They wanted you to claim them. When you touched them, all their power flowed into you. I suspect it may have given you an awareness you weren’t prepared for. Like opening your eyes up too much, too quickly, too strongly.”

“I definitely felt something,” Anaxis said. “Like I’m more powerful now. More in control.”

“I saw something,” Zex told them. “A building. It didn’t feel like it was far from here. A... a flat dome with two outer wings. It looked ancient.”

Kel and Kane exchanged looks.

“You know anything about that?” Kane asked.

“Nothing,” Kel answered. “Though a world strong in the Force, there may be old sites built by Jedi or others to harness the Force. Zex mentioned feeling like there was something calling out to him before, in need, or in pain.”

“I think this was it,” Zex said. “Something is wrong there. We have to go. Now.”

“Do you think you could guide us in the right direction?” Kel asked. Anaxis wasn’t pleased by that.

“He’s obviously not well, we need to get back to Khoonda and-”

“Yes,” Zex said. “I think I can do that.”

Anaxis looked at Zex, and remembered their long conversation, and simply nodded before helping Zex back up.

“Lead the way,” Kel invited.


	45. Revelations at the Enclave

The building Zex saw in his vision was surprisingly close by, and he navigated it with clarity that Anaxis was somewhat surprised by. The streets of Maran were his home territory and he knew them like the back of his hand, but the wilds of Dantooine? Maybe this was some Force mumbo-jumbo at work. The crystal in his pocket, thrumming with power he didn’t completely understand, was evidence enough of how much this Jedi stuff could affect someone.

It only took perhaps twenty minutes for them to get eyes on the site. They crested over a grassy hill, and there it was, sitting quietly on the prairie like a sleeping giant: A large building, dilapidated and ruined, just as Zex described. A central structure that was round and flat on top, with two narrow ovular wings jutting out and forward around it. All of it was a washed out gray, with lichens and mosses giving it a green hue in some patches. The central structure had collapsed in on itself, and even the rubble was growing some layers of vegetation. It was obviously ancient, and it was obviously someplace powerful in the Force, but less so than the cave; for Zex, it felt like a shadow of what it was… an echo.

“Kel…” Zex almost whispered reverently. “What is this place?”

“I’m not certain,” Kel answered, surprising Zex. “I don’t recognize it. My master never brought me  _ here _ …”

“It’s a Jedi site,” Kane stated. The group all looked at her. “I recognize the design from a few years ago. I did a job hauling a salvage crew, they were hitting an old Jedi academy, it looked similar.”

“A Jedi academy on Dantooine… this place must be ancient… at least as old as the Jedi Civil War,” Kel remarked.

“History lesson later,” Kane interrupted. “We’ve got company.” 

She pointed downhill at the nearest wing, indicating a simple camp for two by one of the entrances to the structure. Sitting in the middle of this small camp was a Rodian who seemed to be eating a meal at a leisurely pace. He finished it and made his way over to the door and seemed to stand there, examining the entrance.

“I wonder if he’s what’s causing all the commotion,” Zex pondered.

“Why don’t we find out?” Kane asked, taking out her blasters. She seemed eager for some action.

“He may have friends nearby,” Kel warned, “though I don’t sense anyone. Still, be on the lookout.”

Before the group could descend and intercept the Rodian, though, they all paused. They all sensed the same thing - the same subtle shift in atmosphere, the same rustling, the same anticipation, just before a kath hound came bounding out of the brush. The Rodian turned and yelled as he fumbled to get a blaster out, barely managing to blast the hound before it was on top of him. 

The rest of the pack leaped out from the brush, though, and surrounded him. He cowered with his blaster, trying to keep track of them. It was definitely a hopeless situation.

Until Kane showered the entire patio with blaster bolts, spooking the hounds. Before the pack knew what was happening, Kel was in their midst, lightsabers still in his pockets as he wrestled with the hounds, kicking and striking them in the hopes of convincing them to flee without having to out himself as a Force wielder to this new stranger.

Left with nothing to do, Zex and Anaxis stepped back awkwardly and let the professionals take care of the situation.

Kel took some bruises and bites, but eventually between Kane’s shots and his beatings the hounds dispersed. The Rodian was left back up against the door, and as Zex, Anaxis, and Kane met up with Kel on the patio, he slowly got back up to his feet.

“Oh… uh, thank you… uh, all of you, for saving me. I was  _ supposed _ to have a partner backing me up and keeping the hounds away, but she’s gone off on some idiotic mission,” the Rodian explained. “Uh… why are you here?”

“We could ask the same question,” Kane pointed out.

“That’s fair,” the Rodian replied. “I’d appreciate it if you  _ didn’t  _ ask, so we’ll leave it at that.”

“I don’t think so,” Kane insisted.

“Saying you don’t want us to ask just makes us want to ask more,” Zex criticized. “We just saved your life, you owe us.”

“Gods… why don’t I just pay you guys?” The Rodian asked.

“Why don’t we start with your name, stranger?” Kel asked. It was obvious he was trying to take the more diplomatic approach.

“Because I don’t want to,” the Rodian replied, crossing his arms. Kane sighed impatiently and stepped up to the Rodian, who took a step back defensively.

“Where’d you say your partner was?” Kane asked suddenly. It was a detail nobody else thought was relevant just yet.

“I don’t know,” he responded in an unimpressive lie.

“Off on a hairbrained mission, you said, right?” Kane reminded. “Off on a hairbrained mission to find Jedi sabers, right?”

“What, did you find her?” He asked, suddenly interested. “She was dead-set on finding lightsabers, even though I told her there was no way there were any in this entire star system, but she-”

It was at this moment Kel activated his twin lightsabers.

“...Fuck,” the Rodian muttered.

“Talk,” Kel ordered. He had intimidation on his side. He was going to ply it.

“My name is Phaasan, Vex and I came here to nab some of the Imperial creds going around for mercs here,” he explained quickly. “We heard the Empire had contracts for Dantooine so we decided to check it out.”

“Imperial?” Anaxis asked.

“Contracts?” Zex followed up.

“Mercs?” Kel added.

“We haven’t seen any mercs or Imperials,” Zex said. “Don’t bother lying to us.”

“Are you referring to the pirates in orbit?” Kel asked.

“Pirates?” Phaasan repeated. “I don’t know anything about any pirates. Vex and I came here a few months ago and didn’t have any pirates hounding us on our way in.”

“They’ve been attacking for that long,” Kel pointed out. “This makes no sense…”

“Makes some sense,” Kane declared grimly. Kel looked at her, confused.

“What do you mean, Kane?” He asked her. She merely stared at Phaasan.

“Tell us more about these Imperial contracts,” Kane demanded. Her voice was cold and even, like she already knew the answer.

“Creds for Jedi artifacts,” Phaasan answered. “Vex and I were pointed to this site, and we’ve spent the whole time here just trying to crack the door open.”

“Pointed?” Kel repeated. “Pointed by who?”

“Who do you think?” Kane challenged him. Kel stared at her, then at Phaasan.

A silence. A thread of disbelief. Desperate hope clinging to life.

“Administrator Elia,” Phaasan clarified.

The thread is cut. The hope falls and is broken.

“Impossible,” Kel declared. “You’re lying.”

“Shut the fuck up and search your feelings, Kel,” Kane ordered angrily. “Vex told me after you left the interrogation cell, but I knew you wouldn’t believe me. Not without real proof right in your face.”

“ _ What?! _ ” Kel exclaimed. “Kane, I thought we were on the same page, I thought we trusted each other!”

“I do trust you, you ferrocrete-skulled bantha-rider, but not when it comes to this Administrator!” Kane shot back. “You want to hear what I’ve been recording in her office since I bugged it? Nan helped me herself, so you know the bugs are good!”

“You bugged her office?!” Kel repeated, incredulous.

“And the barracks, and the security office. She’s dirty, Kel, dirty like a dewback before a bath,” Kane declared. “I don’t know much about what she’s up to, but I know she’s not telling us everything about these pirates. She’s had talks with her chief of staff  _ and _ security heads about us, making sure we don’t get our noses too close to the ground.”

“You bugged Khoonda?!” Kel repeated once more, his voice cracking.

“Yes, Kel! Yes, I bugged Khoonda, I bugged your precious idyllic village, and I got hard proof that you were  _ wrong _ about it all!” Kane shouted.

“Can I request we not continue pissing off the guy with the lightsabers,” Phaasan spoke up.

“Shut up!” Kane and Kel both shouted at him.

“Not to interrupt this debacle which my original programming would forbid me from listening in on,” H2’s voice suddenly cackled to life over the crew’s comlinks, “but it is imperative that you all are made aware that there has been a ping on the Khoonda network. Pirates are inbound.”

Kane and Kel looked at each other. Zex and Anaxis, who had been standing awkwardly off to the side as the ‘professionals’ handled their dispute, watched them.

“You can’t deny I was right about this place, Kel,” Kane finally stated.

Kel stood for a moment. Zex could feel the distant, quiet shockwaves of a world falling down around him.

“I know,” he finally conceded. “H2, bring the  _ Beggar _ over to our coordinates for a pick-up.”

“So… am I free to go?” Phaasan asked.

“And prep a holding cell,” Kel added.


	46. Revelations in Orbit

“So just to be clear,” Phaasan said behind the force barrier, “you’re going into space combat with me in your holding cell.”

“Yes,” Kel answered, finishing up with the security terminal.

“So if you blow up, I’ll die,” Phaasan continued.

“Probably,” Kel replied.

“Isn’t it against the Jedi Code or something to endanger innocent lives?” Phaasan pointed out.

“Not a Jedi,” Kel said, “and you’re not an innocent.”

He closed the door behind him at that and made his way to the forward turret as Kane piloted them out of the atmosphere. He paused upon entering the cockpit.

“Are we going to talk about you going behind my back like that? With the bugs?” Kel asked.

“Not in front of the kids,” Kane replied. Zex and Anaxis, who were in their proper places in the cockpit, looked at each other awkwardly for the third time today.

“Fair enough,” Kel conceded as he descended into the turret battery.

“So… do you guys fight like this a lot?” Zex asked.

“Zex…” Anaxis chastised.

“Only when he’s being an idiot,” Kane said, before taking a deep breath. “So if I’m honest? No. We don’t fight like this a lot.”

“Good, because it’s been really awkward just standing there while you guys were fighting, and I really didn’t want that to be my new life,” Zex confessed.

“Worry less about awkwardness, more about combat,” Kane admonished.

“We’ve got contact,” Anaxis said. “One freighter and four fighters, the fighters have the same weird signature as the pirates did.”

“Alright, show time,” Kane said before leaning into the comms. “We’ve got contact, get ready to bag and tag, everyone.”

Everyone called back their affirmation that they were ready to roll. Anaxis tensed up. He could feel the energy coursing through the ship. He was ready to prove himself. The crystal in his pocket thrummed in agreement with his commitment to the fight.

Zex stood at the ready to get any field repairs done that needed to happen, but something was tugging at him in his combat readiness. A weird… hesitation. He almost shut it out, but the crystal still humming in his pocket noiselessly made him think twice. He listened to it carefully, and felt how it was echoing out from the emptiness of space… no, not emptiness. The pirates zipping around outside… even from here, he could see the faint glimmer of their ships.

“Wait…” Zex muttered. “Wait!” He spoke up. Kane looked back at him, as did Anaxis.

“What, what is it?” Kane asked.

“Don’t open fire!” Zex shouted. “Don’t do it! Do  _ not _ engage!”

“Zex, what’s going on?” Anaxis asked. The rush of the battle hadn’t numbed him enough that he wasn’t going to at least hear Zex out.

“Hail them, there’s something more to this than meets the eye, I just… I just know it!” Zex sputtered out.

Kane and Anaxis locked eyes for a moment. Kane then shrugged and hit the communications console.

“This is  _ Hopeful Beggar _ to pirate fighters, any chance you’re willing to talk this out?” She asked sardonically.

The cockpit was quiet with tension for a moment. Just as Kane was preparing to order a fire-at-will, the comms sprang to life.

“Pirates? That freighter is the one carrying pirates! What the hell has Elia been telling folks down there?” The responder stated.

Kane’s eyes widened slowly. “Way more lies than I thought, lady,” she replied. “Mind identifying yourself?”

“Lieutenant Zaraph, Dantooine militia, ma’am. Or I was until Elia sold us out to these mercs!”

“Stars dammit, that woman played us!” Kane swore, leaning into the shipwide comms. “Elia lied to us! The fighters aren’t pirates! It’s--”

At that moment, the freighter opened fire on the  _ Beggar _ , letting loose a volley of blaster bolts. Kane’s reflexes were the only thing that kept them from taking the full brunt of it.

“Fire, fire, fire!!” Kane shouted.

It took a moment to recover from the confusion, but once the  _ Beggar’s  _ gunners recollected themselves, they dished out more hurt onto the freighter. Between the  _ Beggar’s _ firepower and the fighters swarming the freighter, which wasn’t all too maneuverable and lacked decent piloting, it didn’t take too long to turn it into space slag.

There was some unintelligible chattering over the comms, followed by H2. “Sli would like some manner of explanation regarding this turn of events.”

“Yeah, so would I,” Kane replied before turning to Zex. “Good call, kid. We almost made a damned mess of ourselves. I’ve been waiting for a decent scrap I didn’t stop to consider who I was scrapping with…”

At that moment Kel climbed out of the battery. “Lieutenant Zaraph? Is that you, ma’am?”

“Kel? Kel Andali?” Zaraph replied. “I thought you were dead! When I heard the  _ Beggar _ was back I assumed someone else was piloting it!”

“I’ve got a better pilot these days, but she’s mine,” Kel said. “The ship, that is.”

“Lieutenant, can you fill us in on this situation? We’re more turned around than a pilot after a bad barrel roll over here.”

“No problem ma’am,” Zaraph said, “just follow us and we’ll fill you in back at base.”

“So they do have a base,” Anaxis mumbled. “Can we trust them?” He asked Kel and Kane, though immediately he almost regretted possible prompting another argument between them.

“Sure,” Kane relented. “If they’re against Elia, they’re with us.”

“I trust Zaraph,” Kel agreed. “She and I were close when I was last on Dantooine. She was part of the militia group that first found me.”

“How do we know she’s not sold out like Elia?” Anaxis questioned.

“They aren’t,” Zex spoke up. “I can tell. They just… sound more honest. Besides, they wouldn’t have helped us in that fight if we couldn’t trust them.”

“I guess,” Anaxis assented. He didn’t sense much from them. But Zex always did have the better instincts when it came to people.

It was at that point that Nan entered, carrying her datapad.

“I heard back from my cousin about Elia,” she announced.

The room stared at her as she scrolled through her datapad’s contents, shaking her head.

“I’ve got some reading to do. And it doesn’t look good.”


	47. A Question

The militia base was only a few minutes away, and Anaxis was frankly confused as to how it was hidden so well from Khoonda’s scanners. It was an asteroid hurtling around space slowly, almost carelessly listing along as the rest of the galaxy trudged through its dark age.

Zex couldn’t help but see some kind of beauty in the lonely little thing. It was the first asteroid he had seen. He wondered how many more he’d see before he was done.

He hoped that number was large.

Kane brought the  _ Beggar _ down into the simple hangar bay and landed it without issue. The fighters than had escorted them were only a little bit further in. Zex didn’t pay thm much mind, though - he was more interested in the look on Kel’s face. It was… complicated. He seemed to be deep in thought, but he replied with perfect timing to the conversation around him.

“I had assumed Zaraph had gone off-world,” Kel said in response to a question from Nan about his friend. “She had spoken of it when I was last on Dantooine. A dream of hers, to get out into the rest of the galaxy. I figured she made good on it.”

“Your prediction was correct, by technicality, as she is, in fact, off of Dantooine,” H2 assessed. Zex wondered if he had a sarcasm drive or something.

“Think they’re mad about the pilots we killed?” Kane questioned.

“Hopefully they understand the misdirection we were under…” Kel mumbled, his expression unchanging.

“Are we… are we going to address the fact that we killed two innocent pilots?” Zex brought up.

The cockpit fell quiet at that. Zex noticed that Kel’s expression finally changed. He had closed his eyes.

“We have work to do,” Kel declared as he stood up in a swift, fluid motion, his clothes billowing behind him as he made his way out of the cockpit. Kane merely sighed and looked at Nan, before following Kel out, prompting Sli and H2 to follow.

“They’re upset, too,” Nan told Zex.

“So they’re just not going to do anything?” Zex asked.

“Kel said there was work to do, didn’t he?” Nan replied simply. “We can’t un-kill the pilots. All we can do is make up for their death.”

“It just… doesn’t feel like it’s enough,” Zex mumbled.

“Maybe it isn’t,” Nan shrugged sombrely. “But it’s all we’ve got.”

“Has…” Zex trailed off, “has this happened before?”

“Have we killed the wrong people before?” Nan clarified. “As a team, no. But I think we’ve all made mistakes in our time.”

“When did you make yours?” Anaxis suddenly spoke up. He had sullenly kept quiet so far, but seemed to perk back to life.

Nan stared at him. “Ask me another time. They’re waiting on us.”

With that, Nan exited the cockpit, leaving the boys alone.

“Still down for the rebel life?” Anaxis asked. It wasn’t caustic. It was a genuine question. Zex examined him. He seemed tired. Zex didn’t blame him. The whole time they had been travelling to this base they were left to think about how they had killed the wrong pilots. Zex felt like he was going to be sick when he thought about it too much…

“Zex, Anaxis!” Kel’s voice could be heard shouting. “Get out here, we’re waiting on you two!”

Zex merely stood up and walked out.

He didn’t have an answer yet.


	48. The Whole Story

“There you are,” Kel remarked as Zex and Anaxis disembarked the  _ Beggar _ . “Come on, the militia’s briefing room is right in here,” he led them on. The base seemed sparse and simple, there couldn’t be much more than the hangar and a few extra rooms for supplies and rooming. He led them to a room on the far port side of the hangar bay.

“We’re all here,” Kel announced as they entered. “Zaraph, this is Anaxis and Zex. Our newest additions.”

“Right,” Zaraph nodded curtly. “We’re all agreed then?”

“Our intel on Elia in exchange for yours,” Nan nodded. “We’ll go first. Show of good faith,” she said, pulling her datapad out.

“Gonna take a lot more than that if you want to get on our good side, fuzzy,” one of the militiamen snided. “Don’t think we’re gonna forget about Dak and Jerno.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Nan replied, staring the man dead in the eye. “If you’re done wasting our time being angry about the past, I’d like to do something about the future.”

“Go ahead, Nan,” Zaraph prompted. “We’re all ears.”

The room’s eyes were on Nan - except Zex. He looked at the militiaman who spoke out. It only lasted for a moment thought, before the man stared back at him and the disgust on his face drove Zex to break eye contact. He couldn’t handle the shame.

“Elia is almost perfectly clean,” Nan started, “no criminal record, no shady contacts, no mysterious affiliations, all up until a few months ago when she began to have communications with Imperial agents. Numerous communications.”

“Do we know what they said?” Kane asked.

“Not specifically,” Nan said, “but the Imperial protocols used indicate that this was a functional, working relationship - she was cooperating with the Empire, willingly. And there are forwards on the messages that indicate her entire high-level staff was aware.”

“We could tell you all of that,” Zaraph said. “What else do you have?”

“Confirmation that Elia has not contacted the Empire recently,” Nan said. “And that she has paid several bribes to her handlers to persuade them not to escalate their displeasure with her. Why they’re displeased, I’m not sure.”

“And you have these communications, as hard solid evidence?” Zaraph prompted.

“I do,” Nan assured.

“Good,” Zaraph sighed. “That’s exactly what we needed. We’ve got the law back on our side now.”

“Your turn,” Kane reminded. “What’s the whole story here?”

“The whole story is Elia sold us all out,” Zaraph spat. “The Empire contacted her with an arrangement. They had work they wanted done on Dantooine but didn’t want to have to direct resources to do it themselves, so they told the Administrator that if she let their ‘contractors’ have privileged, private access to the planet, they wouldn’t have to consider a military option to ensure the work was done by Imperial workers.”

“By contractors, you mean mercenaries,” Nan clarified.

“Yeah,” Zaraph confirmed. “Officially the Empire branded it to her as helping criminals find honest work, but it’s a bunch of banthar fodder. They’re mercs fulfilling contracts, that’s all there is to it.”

“Contracts for Jedi artifacts,” Kel added.

“Seems that way, though we don’t much care what they’re here for,” Zaraph said. “The gang here and I defected when Elia said she was going to give landing privileges to the mercs. We’ve been shooting them down ever since.”

“But how come we haven’t seen any mercs?” Anaxis piped up.

“Didn’t I just say we’ve been shooting them down?” Zaraph repeated. “No mercs have landed on Dantooine because we’ve been plucking them out of the sky. Except for  _ Katunga’s Pride _ , thanks to you,” she remarked bitterly. “Luckily they were just a supply freighter looking to sell to the mercs they  _ thought _ were down there. The smuggler piloting it is too small-time to do any real harm planet-side.”

“This is all highly logical,” H2 observed. “I hypothesize that Code 5 privileges extended to the mercenaries would explain the deleted files in Elia’s databanks, if applied retroactively.”

“Probably her way of staying in the law while stonewalling your investigation,” Zaraph figured.

“So, what, you’ve just been shooting down freighters indiscriminately?” Kel suddenly asked. Zaraph rose an eyebrow at him.

“You know I’m not that type, Kel,” Zaraph said. “We’ve been hacking the security system remotely to get our hands on the flight manifests to pick our targets, and our long-range scanners match the ID to be sure. Only merc freighters get shot down.”

“But Elia said…” Kel trailed off, realizing the error of his words before rubbing his temples.

“Of course…” H2 said. “ _ Both _ hypothetical systems were in use. Reconciliation of all this data is rapidly approaching 100%.”

“Thank you, for that confirmation, H2…” Kel mumbled.

“So Elia’s dirty, but hasn’t ratted us out yet,” Kane concluded. “We need to make sure she doesn’t get that chance.”

“If you have proof positive she’s been paying bribes, we have the legal authority to arrest and depose her and her entire staff,” Zaraph stated. “But we’re not going to be able to fight off her loyalists alone.”

“You won’t have to,” Kel assured. Zex noted the grimness in his features now. He seemed like a shadow was crawling over him in a cold embrace. “I’ve let all this happen under my nose all this time… now, we fix this. Now we fix  _ all _ of this.”

“Glad we’re finally back on the same page,” Kane smirked.

“I calculate a 66.27% chance of successfully deposing the Administrator,” H2 reported.

“Thanks for telling us the odds,” Kel said.

“So what’s the plan, Jedi?” Zaraph asked.

“We mount up, fly to Khoonda, and arrest Elia.” he proclaimed, turning around to reboard the  _ Beggar _ .

“And I’m not a Jedi,” he added as he exited, prompting the whole room to burst into action as pilots prepared for takeoff and the  _ Beggar’s _ crew began to return to the ship.

Until Zex’s voice stopped them.

“What about the people who will try to stop us?” he asked. It was quiet, but something about it stilled the room. Everyone looked around at each other. Zaraph was the one who answered.

“Blasters set to stun,” she ordered. “And no fighter artillery.”

Kel stared at her, and glanced at Kane, who nodded. He nodded in turn.

“The bloodshed stops today,” Kel promised.

Something told Zex it wasn’t a promise he could keep.


	49. The Battle of Khoonda

It felt like a very short trip back to Dantooine’s orbit. Shorter than Anaxis or Zex wanted, anyway.

For Anaxis it was short because he was thinking about what has about to happen. For Zex it was short because he was thinking about what what was yet to come.

They began to pierce the atmosphere. The  _ Beggar _ took point - the most dangerous position, which Kel volunteered for, with Kane’s blessing. The militia, a dozen fighters in total full force, held formation around them. Anaxis felt a surge going through his system. He felt alive right now - like he was where he was meant to be, right at the front of the charge, even if he wasn’t piloting. It almost frightened him, how exhilarated he was feeling in that moment, but he didn’t deny himself the rush.

“Reaching lower atmosphere,” Kane reported. Making a beeline for Khoonda.”

“They’ve got rusty old AA towers,” Zaraph reported,” but we’re still listed in the systems as friendlies. If we land quickly they won’t be able to open fire.”

“What about land defenses?” Kel’s voice crackled over the comms.

“Minimal, meant more for wildlife than combat,” Zaraph explained. “The real fight is going to be in the admin center proper when we try to make the arrest. She’s going to have a proper garrison built up - they know we’re coming thanks to the long-range sensors.”

“The militia only has two dozen people in it,” Kel recalled. “We should be able to push through.”

“Yeah, but they’re not setting to stun,” Zaraph reminded.

“We’ll have to make do,” Kane butted in. “We’re coming in hot, right outside the admin center, give them as little prep time as possible. I recommend we surround the site and move in fast. Sooner we get to the Administrator the better.”

“Recommend we group up at the front,” Zaraph countered. “Need to stick together.

“Negative, not enough landing space for the whole squadron,” Kane argued back.

“There is if your junker doesn’t land,” Zaraph shot back. “Drop off your crew and park somewhere else.”

Kane turned off the comms for a moment to turn to Kel.

“Please tell me you’re not that attached to this woman, because I just might kill her for that,” she complained.

“Please focus, Kane,” Kel gently chastised. 

Kane rolled her eyes and turned the comms back on. “Will do,” she said, before turning it off again. “Jackass.”

“Anaxis, Zex, grab a blaster, you’re with me,” Kel ordered. “Nan, you too,” he added. “H2 and Sli, sty on-board in case Kane needs you.”

“I’m not playing taxi cab,” Kane assured. “I’m landing this thing ASAP and getting in on this action.”

The formation zoomed down to Khoonda and soared over the small settlement, slowing down as it approached the central building. Anaxis and Zex joined Kel and Nan in the cargo bay, which opened up to serve as a deployment bay as they hovered a few feet above the ground. Anaxis looked at Zex.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” He asked. Zex looked him in the eye.

“I’ve got to be, Nax,” he said. “And so do you.”

“Now!” Kel shouted, prompting the crew to jump down onto the ground.

Kel and Nan landed with grace and practiced poise, while Zex barely kept himself upright, and Anaxis downright face-planted from the momentum. Recovering with Zex’s, Anaxis joined the others as the fighters landed around them and the pilots hopped out. Zaraph joined them and took point.

“Now the fun begins,” she remarked as they approached the entrance to the building.

Stepping into the large reception area, they were met with a collection of guards. Twelve of them, Anaxis counted - half the garrison. They trained their blasters at the defectors as they approached with confidence, like justice itself coming to collect its dues. The leader among them approached Zaraph.

“Corporal Kath Hound,” Zaraph snided.

“It’s Lieutenant Keth,” he corrected. There seemed to be a history here. “Zaraph, you and your troops are absent without leave and wanted for desertion, treason, conspiracy, and serial piracy.”

“Funny,” Zaraph said dryly, “I’m here with concrete evidence that the Administrator and her staff are guilty of corruption and treason, and conspiracy and being accomplice to the same crimes.”

“You’re here to make an arrest?” Keth laughed. “That’s out of your power.”

“Admin Code explicitly states any Dantooine citizen can make an arrest with sufficient evidence,” Zaraph pointed out.

“You know what I think?” Keth asked. “I think you forged that evidence, and I think-”

_ Wahp! _

The room turned to Kane, who had entered through the side door and pulled out her pistol to stun the man.

“Can we please skip the bullshit legality and get to the damned shooting, already?” She asked, flicking the brim of her hat upwards and out of her eyes.

The room was all too eager to agree.

Blaster bolts soared through the air, blue and red, as troops found cover and began to exchange fire. Kel stood out and let his lightsabers flare up, adopting what he alone in the room would know as a Soresu form stance, expertly whapping the bolts heading towards him away, redirecting them harmlessly towards walls and ground. Nan took cover to one side and began to lay suppressing fire, while Zex and Anaxis both took cover together near Kel. They found that he served as an excellent distraction for the enemy troops, who were preoccupied shooting at the lightsabers and were failing to lay down good suppressing fire on the rest of them.

Anaxis peeked up out of cover, and aimed. Focused.

A blue bolt streaked. A man went down, sleeping. Anaxis couldn’t help but cheer quietly to himself.

Zex, however, had less luck. He had more training with a pistol, but not with the same expertise that Kane’s mentoring imparteed. Instead, he decided to try something else, something he’d wanted to try for months now. Reaching out with his feelings, he closed his fingers as he envisioned his will gripping the boxes being used by the enemy as cover, and shoved his arm to the side to pull those boxes away.

They budged. A little.

Then Kel swung his own arm, and the boxes flew away.

“Show-off…” Zex lamented.

As that happened, H2 moved in, and let loose a bolt of electricity that zapped the garrison, arcing from one trooper to the next, all while Sli, the tiny Jawa sharpshooter, sat on his shoulders, loosing stun bolts from twin pistols. It was, context aside, the most ridiculous and cool (ridiculously cool?) think Zex had ever seen.

Soon, the foyer was secured, and the defectors counted their casualties. No death yet, but seven of them had injuries that prevented them from being combat ready. More than half of their squadron was down; they had given as good as they had gotten.

“The Administrator will be in her office,” Zaraph said, “probably surrounded by the rest of the garrison.”

“Then let us finish this,” Kel said, leading the group towards the office.

He didn’t wait for the door to open. He threw a hand out, and the panels blasted inward, knocking several militia to the ground before coming to a rest at Administrator Elia’s feet.

“Elia,” Kel growled. “You have got  _ nerve _ . Guts and  _ nerve _ , betraying my trust like this.”

“I betrayed nobody!” Elia pleaded, almost pathetically. “Kel, I own up to my faults, and to my errors, but please, I beg of you, understand this isn’t my fault! The Empire threatened us, threatened Dantooine, said they’d install a military governor if we didn’t comply with them!”

“And you didn’t think I could help?!” Kel shouted, tepping further in. Whether through fear or awe, the militia didn’t fire at him as the defectors filed in and began to take charge of the situation. Anaxis and Zex, and the rest of the room, observed the confrontation playing out.

“Help? I was terrified you would ‘help’! That’s why I didn’t tell you anything, Kel, because I knew you’d cause so many waves, we’d all be ruined by it!” She argued. “You say you are not a Jedi, but in all the ways that matter, Kel, you are! You would fight the Empire and be crushed by it, because you are one man! One man against a galaxy! We cannot all wield lightsabers and wave our hands to resolve tense situations!” She almost shrieked. Tears were welling in her eyes. “We are weak, Kel Andali, and they are strong! I did what I had to do to keep my people safe, in a way you could never do!”

Kel had to remain silent at that, and his silence was deafening to his own ears.

“But Kel,” Elia went on, stepping forward a bit, emboldened that Kel no longer seemed to infuriated, “I did not  _ betray _ you. I said  _ nothing _ to the Empire about your coming. I bribed them with my own money to buy time to make sure when they came, you would be off-world, or otherwise safe from here.”

“That statement has a falsehood-probability index of 87.556%,” H2 interjected. The room looked at him.

“What?” Elia said.

“I am still wired to the settlements scanners,” he said. “An Imperial ship has just entered orbit.”

The stillness and chill that went about the room felt like Death itself had stepped in.

“Impossible…” Elia whispered. “I said nothing, told them nothing!”

“But I… did…” a small voice said. It was Chief of Staff Bel, cowering in a corner. “I… I panicked, when the sensors said the Jedi was coming with the defectors… I didn’t know where else to go, who else to talk to, I knew the garrison didn’t stand a chance…”

“Kaz…” Elia whispered. “Kaz, what have you done?”

“He’s doomed us all,” Zaraph declared.

“Arrest him,” Elia commanded. The nearest guards did so, and dragged him away. He did not resist. She turned back to her old friend. “Kel… please… flee, while you still can…”

Kel closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before deactivating his lightsabers. “You were wrong, Elia,” he declared quietly. “I am not one man against a galaxy, not anymore. Maybe I can’t help you the way you want me to. But today, I will help you the way you need me to.”

Zex and Anaxis felt it at the same time. The same immense dread they felt that last day on Maran, dripping like it was dark ichor from the heavens.

“Kel…” Anaxis said.

“I sense it too,” Kel confirmed, turning around and walking out, his clothes flowing around him as he moved with the severity of a man who had risen from the ruins of a world. “Come. Let us face the dark together.”


	50. Paradise Lost

As Kel stepped out of the administrative center, he saw the Imperial ship H2 had mentioned. It hung in the sky like an imposing knife, and the cloud cover gathered ominously, blotting out the sun. He could see a single shuttle soaring through the air. Lambda-class. A VIP. Almost certainly an Inquisitor. Probably Three again.

“I recognize that ship frame,” Kane spoke up amind the quiet. “CC-2200 Detainer. Frigate class. Looks modified though.”

“Probably some Inquisitorial vessel,” Nan figured. “It’s part of the CC line, you said?”

“Yep,” Kane affirmed. “Gravity well generators are probably already active. We’ll need to get some distance before we can jump to lightspeed.”

“Or destroy it,” Kel added.

“Only one frigate,” Zaraph observed. “Not much of a pacification force.”

‘They aren’t here to pacify,” Kel corrected. “Not yet, at least. They're here to collect.”

“They’ll be disappointed,” Zaraph grumbled.

Kel stood there, hands in his pockets, looking up at the sky. How could he have been so blind? Kane had told him from the very beginning not to trust this place. But he was so desperate, so direly in need of a place that was safe. One corner of the universe that the Empire hadn’t touched. And now, however indirectly, he had led the Empire here. Even if they weren’t interested in making a military colony out of Dantooine, the people here would never feel safe again knowing that the Empire cared enough to send even a single ship out here.

Kel could not undo this. His naivete had already taken its toll. But he could give them hope. He could give them a taste of defiance. He could fight today and live to keep doing it tomorrow. He wouldn’t let the Empire soil this peaceful world without making them pay for it.

He resolved that he was going to kill this Inquisitor. No matter what.

“Kane,” Kel said, “Take the crew. Get the  _ Beggar _ in orbit and take care of that frigate. Zaraph, help her in your fighters,” Kel ordered.

“I’m not leaving you alone,” Kane vowed, stepping in front of Kel to emphasize her intent.

“I won’t be alone,” Kel said. “I’ll have the Force.”

“I seriously cannot believe you just said that and still expect us not to call you a Jedi, you thick-headed…” Kane trailed off, shaking her head. “We’re with you, Kel. First we secure Khoonda. Then we deal with the Detainer.”

Kel took in a deep breath and sighed. “Have it your way, Kane.”

“My men and I will make sure they don’t keep air supremacy,” Zaraph promised.

“And the militia will support you on the ground,” Elia promised. “We will make up for our failures.”

“And then you will resign,” Kel snapped coldly at her. She was taken aback, then nodded solemnly.

“And then I will resign,” she promised.

At that moment, the single Lambda shuttle finally reached its destination in the center of the settlement and landed. The pilots all dashed away to their ships, and took off quickly. None of them tried to attack the shuttle, primarily because a wing of TIEs was following close behind. Kel wished them luck quietly. He hoped Zaraph at least got to live long enough to have her chance to get off this world.

Then the shuttle’s loading ramp descended. Stormtroopers filed out and fanned out, assuming defensive positions around the settlement square. Perhaps a squadron of them or a small platoon. Twice the remaining garrison’s size, and they had better training and better equipment.

Then a single figure disembarked the shuttle. He was wearing Inquisitor regalia, but it was different from Three’s, lighter, less armoring. The white Imperial insignia was still emblazoned on his shoulders, though, and his pale face was exposed. He would’ve been handsome, had his skin not carried a deathly pallor.

“Citizens of Dantooine,” he loudly broadcasted, “I come as an agent and emissary of the Imperial government. We have been informed by reliable sources that your world currently pays host to a known enemy of the Empire, and a dangerous criminal. We have no desire to deprive you of your autonomy, or to otherwise subjugate or conquer this peaceful, humble world. But the demands of law and justice are what they are, and so we must demand the immediate relinquishing of this criminal, Kel Andali, at once. Immediate cooperation will yield immediate reprieve of our presence. Resistance will earn this planet the Emperor’s wrath. It is your decision.”

A moment of quiet as the wind picked up and whistled through the town. Kane stretched her fingers and picker her targets. Nan squinted and identified weaknesses in the Imperial formation. Sli crawled onto H2’s shoulders. Anaxis brushed his fingers against Zex’s hand, before grabbing his own pistol’s grip. Zex merely took a deep breath.

“As Administrator of this settlement,” Elia suddenly bellowed, “I reject the Empire’s impositioning of itself onto our autonomy with this demand, and require you to immediately depart.”

The Inquisitor frowned, and shook his head. “Then this world is in conspiracy against the Emperor, and its autonomy is forfeit,” he declared. Kel could take no more of this.

“I am Kel Andali,” he suddenly shouted. “I am the one you are looking for! And I will not stand for your being here, lap dog!”

At that, Kel’s sabers exploded into being, and he surged forward with more speed than humanly possible. The Inquisitor seemed to smile viciously before igniting his own blade to meet Kel’s strike.

“I am the Fourth Brother,” he growled as their blades locked together. “And I will be your death, and the doom of all you love.”

“Shut the fuck up and fight, you kath hound!” Kel snarled as the sounds of blaster bolts began to pierce the air, undertoned by the rumbling of thunder.

Nan, H2, and Sli took positions behind cover on the west side of the square, while Anaxis, Zex, and Kane did so on the east. The garrison took the center, and a crossfire was established, with Kel and Four fighting in the middle of it, both sides not wanting to risk hitting their own Force wielder and thus keeping that particular alley free of fire. Meanwhile, up above, the sounds of air combat began to roar across the square, as TIEs and militia fighters began dogfighting with each other, their blaster bolts screeching out around the airspace above Khoonda, and at times impacting buildings.

Anaxis felt himself focus as he channeled his lessons all at once. Commitment, control, devotion, stillness, unity, harmony. He lined up his shots and fired. He missed frequently, there was too much movement, but he felt like he was not merely yanking on the trigger. It felt… good. Really good. Surprisingly good.

For Zex, however, things were painfully chaotic. His aim was not as well honed as Anaxis’, but his senses could instead be turned towards other things, like a thermal detonator being hurled at them. He was the first to react, tackling Anaxis down behind a pile of crates as the miniature nuclear inferno flared up behind them; Kane’s reflexes launched her in the opposite direction and out of cover, though she quickly found new protection, albeit further away from the boys.

Meanwhile, Sli’s sharpshooting was thrown off by H2’s constant movement, as he attempted to keep both of them safe from enemy fire. Sli chattered angrily at the droid, who ignored her and did not translate, but it wore on Nan’s nerves.

“Shut the hell up you two, I’m trying to kill some bucketheads!” She shouted at them.

“I emphasize it is Sli who is making the noise and not myself,” H2 pointed out as he fired with his blaster rifle. 

Just as the crossfire seemed to be reaching a standstill, however, the duel in its midst became mobile. Kel had taken the offensive early, but Four was a skilled fighter, and managed to put the former Jedi on the defensive, forcing Kel to resort to more dynamic footwork. They began dancing around the field, their sabers humming violently as they clashed. They began to pull away crates and boxes to hurl at each other, forcing troopers on both sides to seek new cover or get shot dead.

“You’re angry!” Four concluded. “Furious, even! That’ not the Jedi way, now, is it, Andali!”

“I am no Jedi, scum!” Kel growled back. “Do not waste my time with talk!” He shouted as he brought his sabers down in a renewed assault.

“I wonder what’s got you so mad, Jedi,” Four went on. “Were you betrayed? I sense it is so,” he continued as he dodged. “Your beloved little sanctuary, sold out. You honestly believed there was a corner of the galaxy left where you could hide! Ha!”

Kel shoved the Force forward and Four was sent flying backwards. Kel swooped forward and swung for the kill, but Four recovered too quickly.

“I think I can see why the Third Sister is so obsessed with you! You may actually make me sweat!” He joked.

“And bleed,” Kel promised cruelly.

Before the exchange could continue, however, an explosion could be heard, and the scrapped wreckage of a TIE fighter crashed down onto the battlefield like large metal hail. Zex and Anaxis had to move behind another building to shield themselves from it, and that’s when Anaxis had an idea.

“Let’s flank them!” He said. “They’re too focused on the cross fire.”

“We won’t have much cover over there,” Zex warned. “We’ll need to take them as much by surprise as possible.”

“I’ll go low if you go high,” Anaxis strategized.

“Letting me climb buildings to bring the hurt down on Imperials,” Zex smiled, in spite of the chaos around him. “This is why I love you.”

Zex leaped up onto a crate, then jumped further and began scaling a small building. He couldn’t help but keep smiling. Anaxis always was his rock when things went south. Even now when the Empire was bringing war and bloodshed to them, despite all the fear and horror he felt, Anaxis had a way of calming and focusing him. Just like Zex could always get Anaxis to take action when he needed to.

He reached the top of the building and crouched down. He looked to the ground below and saw Anaxis dashing towards the Imperial flank. Anaxis looked up, and they nodded at each other, before Anaxis dashed forward and started letting loose precise bolts while Zex rained down suppressin fire from above. The stormtroopers were forced to choose between getting shot at from the side or from the front, and began to reposition themselves, taking losses in the process.

“They’re being flanked!” A trooper near Kane shouted, causing her to look over.

“Those kids really do have guts,” she smirked. 

“We have to keep the buckets suppressed,” Nan said, suddenly at Kane’s side. She must have rushed over from the other side of the line when she saw the boys putting themselves in danger. “If those boys get hurt, I’ll never forgive myself.”

“Right there with you,’ Kane assured, pulling out her commlink. “H2, move up and start to flank the troops.”

“Tactical factors force me to recommend otherwise,” H2 replied over the link.

“What tactical factors?” Kane asked.

Suddenly, a building on H2’s side of the line exploded as a TIE Fighter crashed directly into it, releasing an avalanche of rubble down onto the field. The dust cloud and detonation dazed almost everyone, but Kel and Four managed to disengage and get to either side of the collapse before the rubble divided the field. 

“Shit,” Nan coughed. “Things are getting too hot…”

“Think I might know how to even the playing field,” Kane said. “Hold the line, I’m gonna go grab the cavalry.”

The rubble was enough to present a new option for cover, and Zex, who had been knocked off his feet by the shockwave, stood back up to see the Imperials taking advantage of the shift in power by charging up to the rubble and scaling it. He prepared to start taking shots at the temporarily exposed troops when he realized there was a distinct lack of a red blade on this side of the field.

The sound of an igniting lightsaber to his side told him where the Inquisitor had gone.

“I notice you’ve been harrassing my soldiers,” the Inquisitor sneered. “Hm… the Force is strong in you. You’re one of the whelps Andali stole, aren’t you?”

Zex replied by shooting him. The blaster bolts were as effective as they would be against any Force wielder with a lightsaber.

“Oh yes, I think I’ll take you home with me,” he laughed as he approached. “I’ll enjoy breaking that spirit of yours.”

Zex backed up, and reached the edge of the rooftop. The Fourth Brother continued approaching. Zex had to think fast.

Until a blaster bolt struck the Inquisitor in the arm, causing him to cry out in surprise and pain. Zex looked over to see Anaxis standing on the far side of the roof, dusty from the building collapse but perfectly fine, it seemed.

“Get away from him, you son of a bitch,”Anaxis snarled, “that’s my boyfriend.”

The Fourth Brother glowered at Anaxis. “Then he will pay for your insolence!” He growled. The Inquisitor threw an arm out, and Zex was suddenly shoved back by the power of the Force, off the roof of the building, yelling in surprise and terror.

“Zex!” Anaxis shouted, horrified. The Inquisitor smiled cruelly at Anaxis, before raising his saber threateningly.

“I’m good!” Zex’s voice shouted back up, forcing the Inquisitor to look back in shock and confusion, only to narrowly lean back to dodge a cyclone of lightsabers as Kel Andali leaped up onto the building in a front flip, landing between Four and Anaxis. On the street, Zex picked his blaster pistol back up and prepared to scale the building, having been caught by Kel’s Force powers before hitting the ground. Before he began climbing, though, he noticed the Imperials had taken control of the rubble pile, and were firing at will against the militia. Zex paused, and decided that Anaxis had Kel for protection - right now, the militia needed him more, so he dashed over to continue flanking the stormtroopers.

Meanwhile, in the administrative center, a deal is struck quickly. Trust is at a premium in the galaxy, but kindred souls tend to give each other discounts when paying in that currency.

“Where the hell is Kane,” Nan shouted. “They’ve got the high ground, we’re getting our asses handed to us!”

“On our way out,” Kane’s voice crackled over the commlink.

“What do you mean ‘our’ way?” Nan asked, flinching as a blaster bolt seared her shoulder, barely missing her.

“I predict Kane has procured an ally,” H2 reported.

“Thank you! H2! For your inspired tactical analysis!” Nan roared.

“You are welcome,” H2 replied.

At this point, Kel and Four were fully back into their duel, furious and enraged on both sides. Anaxis stood awkwardly to the side, gripping his pistol but not willing to risk a shot. It didn’t take long for him to be excused from that awkward sideline, though, because the two threw each other off the building, letting their fight spill onto the ground again, freeing Anaxis to look over and notice Zex, by himself, creeping up on the Imperial position - while the lightsaber duel moved gradually closer towards him. Anaxis went to do something to help Zex, but before he could, a militia fighter exploded and crashed into the rooftop he was on, knocking him off his feet and burning him slightly. When he got up, he saw that the pilot inside was unconscious - despite the fighter’s wreckage being on fire and threatening to consume him. Anaxis looked over at Zex, then at the pilot, and groaned as he conceded that the right thing to do was to help the pilot. He only hoped Kel could keep Zex sae. 

As Four was pushed back by Kel further, he noticed Zex again, who only noticed just how close the Inquisitor was all too late as the dark-sider physically grabbed Zex and held the angry red blade to his throat.

“Surrender, Andali, or the whelp dies!” He growled deeply.

Kel paused. Some of the stormtroopers must have noticed Four shouting, because they stopped firing against the militia and trained their sights on Kel, approaching him slowly. He took in the situation. Seven stormtroopers, an Inquisitor, an a hostage. For once, he wasn’t entirely sure how to get out of this mess - and it was his own fault for getting reckless. He had no doubts Anaxis would fill his ears for this.

But Zex had other plans. Despite the saber at his throat, he somehow felt a sense of calm. His crystal, still in his pocket, thrummed soothingly against his leg. Against the encroaching dark, he couldn’t help but feel a quiet confidence. He looked upward, instinctively, and saw the first stars poking out from the sky. He remembered the sensation of the coldness of the universe dripping down on him months ago, and realized it was the same sensation he felt emanating off from the Inquisitor.

He decided to do something about turning that coldness into something kinder. Even if he had to kick ass to do. Especially if he had to kick ass to do it.

His eye flickered over to the rooftops. He saw crates stacked up on one building, probably storage for winter. He looked back at Kel, who met his eyes. Something told Zex that Kel got a clue as to what he was planning.

“Make your choice, Jedi! You, or your Padawan” Four shouted.

“He’s not a Jedi, dumbass,” Zex mumbled, reaching out with his thoughts and grabbing at the crates before ripping them towards them. “And my name isn’t Padawan.”

The Inquisitor was too distracted by Zex’s taunting to notice the crates heading for him. He only barely managed to avoid the first one with a rush slash of his saber, but the second impacted him directly, knocking him back. Zex immediately rushed towards Zex and got behind him, then noticed the impromptu firing line of stormtroopers aiming down at them. Four got back on his feet and pointed towards the two of them.

“Fire, damn you!” He ordered. Zex wondered if Kel could ward off seven blaster bolts at one time.

Fortunately, they didn’t have to find out, because an explosion rocked the stormtrooper line -several actually, as their entire line detonated in a sequence of three explosions. Looking up, Zex and Kel saw a familiar sight in the air above them: A Mandalorian, soaring with her jetpack, who undoubtedly had just unleashed a trio of wrist rockets the stormtroopers didn’t think to watch for.

Nan turned back, and saw Kane approaching. “That’s our cavalry?”

“Cavalry, artillery, air support - she’s flexible,” Kane remarked.

Vex settled herself down onto the rooftop Anaxis was on, just as he finished clearing the pilot of the flaming wreckage. “Need help, greenhorn?” She asked. He saw her, and drew a pistol; two swift strikes disarmed him easily. “Easy, I’m here to help!”

“You’re the bitch who shot Zex!” Anaxis shouted.

“Yeah, and now I’m the bitch shooting stormtroopers,” she pointed out, taking a shot at a trooper on the ground to emphasize. “Get over it or get out of my way.”

Kane stood up on top of a crate and addressed the militia while the stormtroopers focused their attention of their side of the rubble, after Vex’s display. “They’re distracted, charge their line!” She ordered, leading the assault. Nan followed behind her, and the militia came with her in short order, scaling the rubble and gaining the high ground on the troopers. They started raining lasterfire down on them, but Kane couldn’t help but notice the Inquisitor was still active.

“Kel!” She shouted. “Stop fucking around and deal with that son of a bitch!”

“I’m working on it!” He shouted back, charging at Four and locking blades with him again. With the troopers gone, and the crew around to keep an eye on Zex, he threw himself entirely into the duel, dodging and weaving.

“You’re bristling with rage!” Four shouted. “Overflowing with it! You protect this world like it were your child! I can sense the raw passion flowing out of you! You’re a pathetic excuse for a Jedi!”

“That! Is! The! Point!” Kel shouted as he brought his lightsabers down again and again and again onto Four’s guard, overwhelming him with sheer brutal force, before striking from the side with both sabers and calling upon the Force, batting him into the hull of the Lambda shuttle hard enough to generate a satisfying crunching sound. Kel approached slowly as the militia finished off the troopers.

“You… would make a good… Inquisitor… Andali…” Four spat, barely breathing after such a coarse impact.

“I lack more than one important qualities that make up a good Inquisitor,” Kel said, walking with grim determination towards the broken Inquisitor. “I lack blind loyalty, I lack empty devotion, I lack rabid sadism, but most crucially?” He paused, deactivating his lightsabers and crouching down to level with Four. “I lack the pitiable lack of skill rampant in your order.”

Four chuckled. “But not the ruthlessness. Not the cruelty. Those are in you. Just as they are in me.”

“Hmph,” Kel said, activating his lightsabers directly into Four’s chest, causing the Inquisitor to contort his face in pain as his death throes rocked his system. “True enough.”

Deactivating his lightsabers again, Kel stood up and turned to see his crew coming to assemble around him. Fortunately none of them had seen how… indulgent he had been, in executing Four.

“The fighting’s over,” Nan reported. “Seems the TIEs are retreating back to their ship.”

“What’re we going to do about that frigate, though?” Anaxis asked. Zex looked over at the shuttle.

“Lambda…” he muttered. “Those have hyderdrives, don’t they?”

“They do,” Kane confirmed. “Why?”

“H2, Sli, help me out, this should only take a moment,” Zex said, walking into the shuttle with Sli and the droid. The rest of the crew looked around at each other.

“What’s the kid planning?” Kane asked aloud.

“I definitely don’t know,” Anaxis confessed.

“Personally,” Vex butted in, “I think we should just outrun it. Gravity wells won’t keep us down forever.”

“I’m curious as to why you think you get a say in what we do,” Kel questioned.

“I need a way off this dump. You’re my best bet,” she said.

“How did you land here, anyway? The militia was shooting down all the pirates,” Anaxis questioned.

“Stowed aboard a civilian freighter,” she shrugged. “Simple answers are best.”

At that moment, though, Zex returned with the other two, and the shuttle took off and flew for the frigate. Zex seemed to be smiling.

“Zex, Anaxis said, “what did you do?”

“Set it on autopilot,” Zex answered, still smiling. “Figured I’d send the Imperials a message: Dantooine is protected.”

“In what way?” Kane asked cautiously.

Suddenly, the darkening sky flooded with light as an explosion sent white cracks through the Detainor. It flared up with brightness before detonating fully, breaking apart like chunks in water.

“Set the shuttle to engage hyperdrive right into the frigate,” Zex explained. “Wouldn’t work on a larger ship, but a small frigate like that, I figured a shuttle would be able to do in, at lightspeed.”

“Holy shit, kid…” Kane marvelled at the brilliant display, taking off her big hat in awe. “Looks like Republic Day pyrotechnics from when I was just a girl on Corellia…” 

“Republic Day…” ELia’s voice rang out from behind them. She had come out when the fighting stopped, it seemed. “I haven’t thought of that in… a long time.”

“Nor have I,” Kel agreed, as they all looked up in sad nostalgia at the already fading display above them. Vex, Anaxis, and Zex all simply stared. Republic Day was a faroff concept to them, something from childhood. 

Still, it was nice to bask in the light while it lasted.

“So that’s it then,” Anaxis said. “They’re gone.”

“For now,” Elia corrected. “They undoubtedly will return.”

“Not if we are gone from here,” Kel tacked on. “And we will be.”

“And if they come anyway,” Zaraph said, approaching from her landed fighter, “we’ll be ready to fight them, as much as we can.”

“We’re done here, then?” Zex asked, almost disappointed.

“It seems it is no longer safe for any of us,” Kel said, glaring at Elia, who avoided his gaze. “Besides, I want to know why the Empire was looking for Jedi artifacts here. I know they like rounding them up, but I didn’t think they’d go so far as to send mercenaries to Dantooine…”

“I can answer some of those questions,” Vex remarked slyly, slipping her helmet off to reveal the cunning smile underneath. “We might even be able to help each other out.”

“How’s that?” Kane asked.

“Here’s a down payment in good faith, Captain,” Vex said nodding at Kane. “I can tell you that the Empire was sending mercs to more than Dantooine, they were getting sent all across the galaxy - and I can tell you where we were told to go when we had anything of value.”

“And where is that?” Kel pried.

“Same place I want to go,” Vex revealed. “And the same place you’ll need my help. I can show you where to find the Empire’s stooges, if you bring me there.”

“Fair deal,” Kane acknowledged. “All on board with it?”

“If it leads us to dealing out more Imperial pain, sure,” Nan said. “Though I’m hesitant until I know exactly where we’re going.”

“Sli and I are both in favor,” H2 expressed.

“We’ve plenty of questions and only one lead,” Kel said. “I’m willing to do some ferrying in exchange for that.”

“As long as we get to continue our training,” Zex requested. Kel nodded his confirmation.

“I go where Zex goes,” Anaxis said, glaring for a moment at Vex.

“Alright then,” Kane said, turning back. “Where are we headed?”

“Only place where anybody would send people to do shady, under the table business on a galactic scale,” Vex said, smiling. 

“The Smuggler’s Moon. Nar Shaddaa.”


End file.
